The Little Rose
by jessica.dangerfield.9
Summary: Dimitri wasn't assigned to Ivan because Janine didn't take Rose away from Abe and she's a child with a target on her head. Can a newly graduated Dimitri look after our demanding, stubborn, full-of-attitude, cunning mini-mobster Rose?
1. Meeting the little one

DPOV  
Today was the day I received my guardian assignment. After dedicating my whole life to training, and having had to work extra hard on my control in the last six, I was hoping to get my best friend, Ivan. Or at least someone nice.

The letter arrived and I opened excitedly, but with a hint of trepidation. I'd been top of my class, but that didn't guarantee my worth for an assignment such as Ivan. Though falling guardian numbers meant nearly everyone received a royal simply because there 'wasn't enough of us to go around'. It was a sick system, but I couldn't say a word.

 _Rosemarie Mazur care of Ibrahim Mazur,_ I read, _Turkey_. Oh crap! Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! I had **_not_** just been officially assigned to that powerful businessman, had I? And what was with being assigned his infamous daughter? There wasn't a soul in the world who didn't know Rosemarie Mazur was the only dhampir child to have her own guardian... or should I say guardians? Because every few years she was assigned an extra one. And it wasn't as if it wasn't known she was a spitfire and dangerous in her own right. She'd had eyes on her since birth, so everyone knew she had a temper, and a strength and repertoire of battle moves well beyond her eleven years- twelve now, I corrected myself- which she wasn't afraid to use.

I was brought out of my thoughts by a knocking on my guest room's door. I opened it to see Ivan, the best friend I'd likely never see again.  
"Hey!" he cheerily stepped in the room, wearing a smile as bright as a million watt globe.  
"What's got you so happy?" I asked curiously.  
"You got assigned to me, didn't you? So we've got college and the rest of our lives ahead of us, right?"  
My face fell into its emotionless state. "No, Ivan," I said with sorrow filling my voice. So much for emotionless shadow guardian.  
"What?" he asked in shock.  
"I didn't get assigned to you," I repeated, letting my emotions show, he was my friend after all.  
"Then who?"  
"Zmey and zmeyette," I responded, and I heard the fear in my voice as I realised what he could do to me.

What she could do and have done to me, because the whole world knew he doted on her. Me being her sixth guardian was evidence enough. She'd acquired that nickname at the mere age of four for 'accidentally' stabbing a client of Abe's in the hand with a fork at a luncheon meeting. It was said the client had upset her somehow, though no one knew how or why. It was just as well apparently, because a month later it had been revealed the client had been creating a diversion for another one to attempt to steal her. That was the first time her guardian detail had increased from one to two personal guardians. She'd had a personal guard since the day she'd been born, literally, because there had been an attempt on her life hours after she'd been delivered.

"Y-you got _assigned_ to _them_?" he asked, completely stunned and disbelieving.  
"Yeah. I did."  
"Well then..." a cheeky look crossed his face. "Let's make a day of it, then!"

That night I was on the plane and headed off to Turkey. I had multiple stopovers and slept on the flights and mused over what my life may now hold. Danger was for sure, though it would now also come from Moroi. Difficulty, if I had to deal with one of Rosemarie's temper tantrums or dissuade her from a plan if I knew of it. Would it mean returning to an Academy? And how luxurious would the house be? Would I be travelling with Abe or following Rosemarie mainly? And what threats would the little girl face?

"Ahh, Dimitri," greeted zmey when I stepped into the baggage claim.  
"Mr Mazur," I returned.

I knew this outrageously dressed businessman too well. He liked to visit my family after after I'd punished my Moroi father. That said, he'd never brought Rosemarie around. She was hidden as much as possible because of her high public profile. Unlike now. The little girl was perched on her father's hip. She was half asleep since it was early morning, her cheek rested on his shoulder and her eyelids blinked slowly, her curly dark hair was splayed around her and shaped her face though it looked as though it had only had a hand run through it instead of hours with a brush. From what I could see of her arms and face, she had a deep tan that occurred from sun-baking. The girl was twelve! Though I had to admit it made her look like a normal cute little girl, not one who could stab me with a fork... _and_ make it look like an accident. Her dress also made her look deceptively innocent and harmless to the passerby. And to think she was my charge.

"Rose, Kiz, meet your newest guardian," Abe gently said to his daughter. I'd never seen this side of the mobster, but I guess I'd better get used to it.  
"Another, Daddy?" she whined sleepily.  
"You're lucky to have him," he warned. "He's an officially assigned one and the best of his grade," explained Abe.  
"But Daddy, I don't need another!" she argued, now fully awake. "I'm good on my own!" huffed the defiant girl.  
"Rosemarie Jane Mazur," Abe said in a reprimanding father way. "You're in more danger than even a day ago."  
"Still," she had to have the last word as she jumped out of her father's arms. She pulled on my trouser leg and I nearly had to sit cross-legged to look her in the eye. "Hi," she greeted with an award-winning smile that, even with her two missing teeth, made her look like a child model. "I'm Rose."  
"Hello, Miss Mazur," I greeted with a smile of my own to avoid scaring her. I was sure she had to be used to it by now, but I knew I was scary enough with my height.  
"I dunno if I like you..." she muttered in Russian. That both surprised me and didn't. Her father spoke all three languages, English, Turkish, and Russian, so why not her too? She looked away then met my eyes boldly with her chocolate brown ones. "Yet."  
"Now why would that be?" I asked in Russian.  
"You're big and dangerous." After a moment she added, "And young." I laughed a little at that. I was so much older than this innocent child, nearly twice her age, yet she seemed to think I was a baby guardian. Which I guess I was in a way. I was barely eighteen, newly assigned, had never seen a Strigoi, and certainly hadn't yet killed. She was so right while also being so wrong.  
"I'm not that young," I responded. "I'm just young for a guardian, Miss Mazur. I just finished school."  
"What's your name?" she asked sweetly.  
"Dimitri, Guardian Dimitri Belikov."  
"I may get to like you, Dimitri," she mused. "I'm Rose, Rosemarie Jane Mazur. Only ever call me Rose," she directed.  
"Of course, Miss Mazur," I said. To be a gentleman, I took her little left hand and kissed the back of it ever-so lightly and quickly. The little girl giggled and smiled, brown eyes shining and loose longish dark curls bouncing.  
"I might get to like you, Dimitri," she repeated, cute as a button. She was only a year older than my littlest sister and I couldn't help but wistfully note how well they'd get along if they ever met.

"You're the first guardian who she's claimed to not like yet giggles at," noted Abe as we walked to his two SUVs. One, I learned, was especially for transporting the little Rose. "I think you're going to be her near guard," he mused. "Work it out with the others, but I think it's going to work best for her to have you closest to her."  
"Whatever you ask, Sir," I obediently agreed.  
"Good. Because I may just need you to be the guardian of hers who plays with her. She's had more family time and involvement than most novice guardians. But she hasn't yet had a guardian who plays with her. Trains her? Yes, they've done that. But played with her and made her feel like the little girl she is? That they haven't... until you. I know I can trust you with her."


	2. The drive home

DPOV  
After a brief consultation with my teammates, I sat on one side of the little Rose, while the others sat wherever else they could fit. Rose was literally surrounded by guardians. She was in the middle of the middle row. Kalle, the first guardian assigned to her, sat in the driver's seat. Anton, her third guardian, was in shot gun. I was off to her left. Titov, Rose's second guardian, was to her right. Zefrina and Helen were in the back two seats. The protection this one child had was unfathomable, it rivalled the queen's flotilla.

"Kalle, kill this dull mood would you?"  
Kalle laughed indulgently at the girl. "No music, Rose."  
"But silence is _boring_!" she pouted and tried pulling puppy eyes.  
"It's not for long, Rose," soothed Anton.  
"Anton! It **_is_** long. If it's _not_ to the grocery shops, it's **_long_**."  
I watched and listened in fascination as she manipulated these guardians, trying learn what it took to keep on her good side.  
"It's dangerous, Kizim," added Zefrina. "You know that."  
"If you want music for car trips then talk to your daddy about buying you an iPhone," suggested Helen.  
" _Helen_! You're not supposed to encourage materialism," Kalle chastised the second-newest guardian.  
Then, out of nowhere, Rose turned to me, big brown eyes pleading, on the verge of tears, lip quivering. I so wanted to make her happy, I didn't want to see those tears fall, not on the child-model's face. "Dimitri, _please_?" Rose begged.  
"I'm sorry, Rose. I'm not the one to ask. But I can offer you a compromise?"  
"What sort?" Ahh, now _there_ was the sign of brilliance I'd been waiting to see, to hear.  
I had to tread carefully. Especially with five teammates breathing down my neck. "I can't offer you music, but what about games?"  
The wheels turned in her eyes. She smiled... rather mischievously, I should add. " _Fortunately, Unfortunately_. Do you know that one?"  
I shook my head. "No, I don't. How does it go?"  
"Well... it's creating a story. So I'll say, fortunately I'm dhampir Rose Mazur. Then you could say, unfortunately Rose is targeted by Moroi and Strigoi. Then one of those other five _bores_ could join in with, fortunately we're here to guard her. And on it goes."  
I smiled. "Sounds like fun."  
"We aren't bores!" complained the others.  
"You are too!" she huffed in a cute, sweet, and intimidatingly childish voice. There was nothing more heartbreaking and scary than a sweet child being hurt or not getting their way. " _None_ of you _ever_ play with me! All you do is watch me like a hawk. You _never_ do anything but train me and watch in silence." Rose's tired and upset tears were now falling.

My teammates froze in uncertainty and fear. I, however, took action. These guardians clearly knew nothing about being around a child and responding to their whims, wants and needs.

"Rose," I whispered softly and gently guided her face so she looked at me. "It will be okay." My hands cupped her small and too-pretty-for-tears face, and my thumbs softly wiped away her spilled tears. "You've got me now, Rose. I'll play with you all you want. Okay?"  
She sniffled and nodded. "Promise you'll always play with me when I ask? No matter what Daddy says? Promise you'll play with me even when Daddy says you're not allowed to? Promise, Dimitri?"

I regarded her with utter seriousness. She was too little to never have someone to play with. She was my true charge after all.

"I promise. Rose Mazur, I promise to play with you whenever you want, whatever you want to play. I'll even take dance classes with you if you suddenly want to."  
Her tears dried; she giggled. "What about dolls?"  
"If you want to play dolls, I'll play dolls with you."  
"And happy family?" Aww. She was such a sweet little girl at heart. One messed up in two cruel worlds.  
I nodded. "And happy family."  
"The pool? Marco Polo in the pool?"  
"Yes, Rose. Whatever you want to play means exactly that."  
"Yay!" Rose squealed in delight, soon wrapping her small, strong arms around my neck. "Thank you, Dimi."  
I chuckled. "You know that's not a real nickname, don't you?" I teased childishly.  
"Well it is now," she declared in an imitation superior tone and stance. Her Turkish accent made her all the more sweeter and youthful, innocent and cute. "What I say, goes."  
"Anything you say, Miss Rose," I bantered.  
"Why, of course!" she giggled, and after hearing her cry, the sound was music to my ears. I felt like I was back home in a way, yet in completely uncharted waters. And it felt so much more rewarding making Rose happy than it was cheering up Vika.

As live-wire as my very young charge was, she soon fell asleep. On my shoulder... well, as on my shoulder as was possible.  
"You're a pushover, Belikov," commented Kalle.  
"If you're not careful she will stab you in the back," added Anton.  
"You can't trust her, Dimitri," contributed Titov.  
"She's too bright for her own good," said Zefrina.  
I looked down at the twelve year old sleeping against my arm. "I have a sister a year younger than her, and another two both older than her. I'll survive."

Rose sighed heavily and snuggled closer. I smiled then looked pointedly at the others however much as possible.

"I'll survive whatever this little spitfire can throw at me."  
"And what about her father, what about what zmey could throw at you?"  
"She's worth it. Whatever she wants, she'll get, no matter the cost."  
I received horrified looks from my colleagues. "You really are a pushover."  
"It's not worth being so soft with her."  
"How can you say that?" I nearly cried in annoyance. I already felt so defensive and protective of her. "She's just a child. One who has known nothing but fear and training. It's time she had a taste of childhood before she becomes a troublesome teen who thinks she's so cool." I ran a hand over her slightly messy curls. "I can't see how you can be so indifferent."  
"With her, it takes practice."  
"None of us are to close to her in age."  
"I'm not that close. I'm easily one and a half times her age."  
"And we're all at least twice her age."  
"You're young yet, Belikov. You'll learn what it takes to bond with your charge but not get too attached that you lose your sense of judgment."  
I shook my head and sighed. With Rose, I already somehow knew that wasn't going to be possible. Ever.


	3. Protector

RPOV  
I had Dimitri eating out of my palm. He was so tall! He had an odd coat on at all times. His hair was long for a guy and lighter than mine. He was, if I was right, what is called a gentleman. I knew that whenever I needed something, especially someone to play with, I could find my tall, odd-coated, long-haired gentleman of a superhero and all would be fixed.

"Dimi!" I called as I ran around the house trying to find my favourite guardian.  
"In here, Rose!" his Russian accent called from the bedroom wing of my Turkish home.  
"Dimi!" I squealed as I ran through his partially open door. "Do I have to buy you a cowboy hat?" I groaned when I noticed the tattered book he was reading in his bed.  
"No Rose," he chuckled and sat up.  
"Read to me, Dimi?" I begged. Some of my favourite times of day- human and vampire day- were being read to by Dimitri.  
He smiled brightly and nodded. "What book this time?"  
"The one you're on."  
His forehead creased in thought. "Okay then."

I crawled onto his lap and put the book back in his hands. Dimitri's strong arms wrapped around me and I felt safe.

Over the past five weeks, I'd come to learn his arms meant I truly was safe. Even from Daddy, Mommy (since she bothered to visit for a week), and all my other guardians. So when I was annoyed at any of them I came to Dimitri. Then they wouldn't dare come too close or speak at all. Because, especially if I came to him in tears, he'd clutch me to him and almost growl at them. He was the most protective of me, I felt. He was kind of what I'd imagine a big brother would be like.

He read to me in Russian. Again, of course and because I'd asked for it, it was one of his cheesy cowboys books. I didn't get the draw of them. Unless it meant getting to listen to Dimitri's smooth Russian accent lull you to sleep in his arms... and of course he had to use it to teach me big Russian words as well- he could only go so far as to teach me the English translation and concept. The rest was up to me to find the Turkish version later. I was still yet to do so with a list four pages long of new things to learn.

So, yet again, I let his liquid accent slide over me and send me to sleep.

Abe'sPOV  
Again, Kiz had run about the house, unable to be caught, screaming out her silly nickname for her youngest guardian. All I could think was, who had done what to her now?

I shook my head and went back to my paperwork, Janine hovering on the lounge, doing and not doing duty.  
"What is with that, Ibrahim?" she asked in her gorgeous Scottish accent.  
"Hmmm?"  
She gave an exasperated sigh. "Abe, would you pay attention to your daughter and her guards!"  
My head snapped to look at her at the sound of her accusatory tone. "I do."  
"Then why is Belikov, the best and most strict of his class, the least formal with her?"  
"Because I asked him to be, Janie. I asked for him knowing he's got a little sister a year younger than Rose."  
"You can't tell me you're fine with the way she gets all clingy to him? She's going to be a _guardian_ , Abe! She needs tough love."  
"She needs the chance to be a child, Janine."  
"You're coddling her. She'd be fine at an Academy, especially one overseas, like in the States."  
I was beyond shocked at her indifference to our own little girl. And more than rather pissed."You forget she's got more enemies overseas than here in Turkey. Many of whom, if they don't try something themselves, will manipulate their kids. She's less safe at an Academy, and there's nothing I can do. She needs her family, Janine. She needs a guardian like Belikov."  
She tried to glare at me. I'd long since learned to not let it get to me. "Belikov hasn't learned boundaries."  
I shook my head. "I'm not phased by his protective and defensive attitude."  
"He's monopolising her." Her eyes tried to bore into me. I sighed and dropped my work to sit opposite her on the lounge.  
"He's her near guard, no matter how many more we need to get her, he'll be her near guard until she graduates. I want her to feel as safe with him as she does, I want him to be as protective of her as he his. If that means he monopolises her then that's what it takes, as you just heard her squealing trying to find him. If anything, _she's_ monopolising _him_. He's supposed to be on break right now, yet, since she's now quiet, he clearly is at her beck and call, doing whatever she asks whenever she wants. If that's the way they're going to work as guardian and charge, that's the way we have to go with." It was all true.

Janine'sPOV  
I sighed, stood and left to find out what Belikov was doing with Rose now. I walked purposely through the halls to his room. His door was slightly ajar and I opened it enough to lean against the jamb and watch. Belikov was reading to her in Russian. She had clearly caught him reading in bed. Appropriately clothed, he sat upright, okay not totally upright, he was hunched around her little form that was sitting in his lap, reading along with him. Rose's eyelids started to droop and I knew she was going to fall asleep in his arms again.

I guess I could very reluctantly say I didn't like Belikov for being so close to Rose because I resented the fact I didn't have _that_ connection with her. And she was **_my_** eleven year old. He'd known her only five weeks and it was as if he'd always been in her life. It seemed as if I was, in this household and its staff, I was her least liked. Belikov however, seemed to be right at the top, even more favoured than Abe. It hurt. Belikov adored Rose, that much was clear, she had him under her spell. He was doing a better job parenting her right now, and I nearly _despised_ him for it. I guess I felt threatened by him in an odd way. I suppose I nearly already felt as though he was taking her away from me, away from us all.

"Rose?" he whispered gently in her ear. "Rose? Rose?" He sighed when he realised she was fast asleep in his arms. A relaxed, adoring smile creeped onto his lips as he put the book onto his bedside table off to his right while supporting her sleeping form without jostling her. Rose didn't notice anything. He looked up at me and his smile morphed to almost a scowl.  
"I'm still in her sin bin?" I sighed quietly.  
He nodded curtly, wordlessly and shot me a 'now get out' look.  
I returned the door to its previous nearly-closed state and stalked off. He had such gall and attitude for a young guardian. He was never going to earn respect at that rate.


	4. Shopping trip

DPOV  
"Dimi, look at this!" called Rose as she held a dress out in front of her and twirled about. "What do you think? Will it do?" I had no doubt the dress was designer, but it was a spaghetti strap, semi-formal tie-die sundress... and we were shopping for school clothes.  
"Not for school, Rose. You need new training clothes and shirts and jeans."  
Her brown eyes turned pleading. "You'll get no use of it until next summer, and by then you won't fit in it," I reasoned.  
"But it's _cute_!" Rose argued, one hand on hip, pout and puppy-eyes in full play.  
"I agree. But no one important will see you in it."

I hated being so tough on her, but Abe had tasked me with teaching her how to spend frugally and reasonably. She still had an incredibly, mind-blowingly high limit and was used to impulse buying without thought to cost or practicality.

"You will. Daddy will. I will."  
I crouched down to her level. "I know Rose, sweetie, but that's the type of dress your daddy will have you wear at dinners. You don't have those dinners until next summer, when you won't fit into it or there will be something you like more." When she didn't respond I asked, "Can I see how much it is?"  
She nodded and found the tag. I sighed. Of course it was over five hundred Lira, of course it was. This girl did nothing by half, or even three quarters. "Rose, if you put this dress back, you can get that leather jacket you've been eyeing off for over a month and two sets of those embroidered designer jeans."  
"I can get them anyway." She gave me a defiant look.

She was hard work sometimes, but I could always find a way through to her. She was so sweet and innocent despite being so cunning and demanding. She just needed a chance. And others around her that could understand her impatience and outspoken nature, a person who struggled for their control just as much.

"But Daddy hasn't let you yet, has he?" I asked knowingly with a raised brow.  
"No," she lamented. It was so cute to see her pine over clothes, forgetting she had a target and bounty on her head. "Daddy hasn't let me."  
I smiled pointedly, mischievously. "If I let you buy them, would you put the dress back?"  
An outright mental war shone on her face. Eventually she nodded. "Mmm'kay," she smiled and handed me the dress. I returned it to the rack before she grabbed my hand and led me back to where the jeans were.

Abe had wanted to preserve her little-girl image and dress sense as long as possible, but these jeans and jacket were more early-teens. Rebellious early-teens at that. I thumbed through them. "What size?" I asked, not yet knowing what size she found comfortable in jeans. She told me. "Try one in that size," I handed her a pair in the size she requested, "and this one- so you get more wear out of them." I handed her a pair of the next size up. She'd already grown a good centimetre or two in the two months I'd known her and it seemed as if she was on the cusp of starting her puberty growth spurts.  
Rose read them and pouted. "Why, Dimitri? I'm not growing that much."  
"Even I can see you're going through a massive growth spurt, Rose. You're at an age to as well." I ran a hand over her hair quickly. "Now let's find you that jacket and a top to go with it so you have an entire ensemble to try on."

She grinned excitedly and this time pulled me to the jacket. She placed the jeans in front of them and squealed. "It's gonna look perfect!"  
"Not so fast, little lady," I warningly teased. "Find the next size up and try it on together before you go making those statements, don't want to be too let down when it doesn't work." I didn't believe my words for that outfit for a moment, it would work well together and she'd look very grown-up in it- especially with her perfect child-model looks. Still, it was a lesson she needed to learn, never jump to conclusions.  
"Dimitri," she laughed. "You know it's going to look amazing!"  
"Just grab the next size to try on and let's find a top to finish the look."  
"Killjoy," she whined but did as directed.

"Not blue, Rose- Midnight or otherwise." I picked out a red alternative shirt that looked grown-up but also young and child-like.  
"But it's a nice blue." Rose let me swap the shirts despite complaining.  
"Yes, it is. But not with that outfit, your wardrobe or your hair and skin colour." This trip was **_not_** meant to be me giving her fashion advice.  
She smiled sweetly, shrugged and headed off to the change rooms. That girl will be the death of me, but I wouldn't trade her as my charge for the world.

"Dimi?" Rose called and strode out of the change room with a smile on her face. "What do you think?"

Honestly? She looked incredibly like a teenager, the jeans made her look taller and the red shirt made her eyes 'pop' and made her nearly black curls seem darker still. Meanwhile the leather jacket clung and accentuated her toning... and, I awkwardly noted, her starting to develop curves.

"You look incredibly grown-up, Rose." She didn't look a thing like the little girl I'd met two months ago, and it scared me. "Incredibly grown-up. Your Daddy is going to have a heart attack and fire me," I joked.  
She smirked gleefully. "Thanks Dimi!" Then she turned determined. "I won't let him fire you. You're safe. I always get my way. I won't let him fire you. Pinkie promise." Her little finger wiggled at me, beckoning mine to lock with it. My rough and calloused pinkie found her soft, smooth and small one in a promise.  
"Thanks. Now go get changed, Rose, and let's get you home before dark."  
With a skip, she returned to the change room.

The attendant smile fondly. "Is she your cousin?"  
I shook my head. "I'm her guardian."  
She looked at me oddly. "You're a little young, aren't you?"  
"I'm eighteen. Old enough to look after her, not old enough to get odd looks. As you yourself assumed she's my cousin others will likely think the same. That's why her father chose me," I explained.  
"Ahhh." Her smile returned. "She must be such a sweetie to look after."  
I chuckled indulgently. "All in all, yes, she is."  
"Did my Dimi just complement me?" Rose teased as she returned to my side, handing back the items that didn't fit... or wouldn't soon enough.  
I ran a hand over her hair. "Yes I did."  
"Thank you, miss," Rose smiled cutely before tugging me out into the main shop again.

"Rose... there's one more thing you need to get..." I started tentatively. I knew how to handle this with my sisters no matter how uncomfortable initially, but I really didn't know how Abe and Janine would want this approached. "Especially with that outfit."  
Rose looked at me questioningly. "Mmm?"  
"Rose... has your dad or mom explained...?"  
Realisation struck. "Oh god! This is so awkward."  
"It needs to be done, Rose," I said softly like a caress. _Or hormonal teenage boys are going to be all over her._

She nodded in a rare show of meekness before letting me guide her to the bras section. "Help!" she pleaded softly while looking completely overwhelmed.  
"Let's start looking for your shirt size, huh? And keep it to plain colours." I set Rose free, but she did the opposite, she clung to me. "Come on then," I sighed and guided her towards some age-appropriate-looking white bras. I wished for the chance to avoid padding and underwire, she was still so young and completely new to this part of her life. But her future vocation's prep dictated otherwise.

She tentatively, hesitantly leafed through row after row. "It's so confusing," she told me after a short while, already frustrated and confused.  
"Hmmm." I joined in the search, well, I more like took it over for now. "You should start with these." I handed over three white ones in her shirt size, one each of the three smallest cup sizes.  
Rose took them and analysed the sizing label. "How does the system work?" she asked, scrunching up her face.  
"The numbers match shirt sizes, or they're _supposed_ to, and the letters refer to the cup size," I explained, "the cushion-y part that covers and supports."  
She giggled. "How do you know so much? This is girls stuff."  
"I have three sisters and a mother. I've grown up around everything girl related."  
She shrugged nonchalantly and entered the change rooms.

"How'd you go?" I asked hesitantly when she exited.  
"I think I've got it sorted." She handed two bras back to the attendant.  
"And?" I prompted, sensing she wasn't telling everything she wanted to.  
"Now I think I get it, there were a few ones I spotted-"  
"You're still young yet, Rose. Make sure I veto them. Lace is out of the question. I think you should stick to the crop tops."  
"It's my body!" she argued, hand on hip, hair flicked back.  
"If you were a normal pre-teen I wouldn't worry so much, Rose. But you're going to have certain teenage boys breathing down your neck, literally, wanting to play with you in a _very_ bad way. You train so much too. You have such potential, Rose, don't risk it by giving yourself a bad name so early in life."  
Rose listened intently then sighed in defeat. "I hate you when you're right," she muttered then went hunting. The third one she went for wasn't age appropriate.  
"No black, Rose," I sternly stopped her as her hand hovered over the hangers, about to search out her size. She snatched it back.  
"Why?" she demanded. "It's not like anyone's going to see."  
I sighed. "You've only got a select few tops you can wear it under."  
Her sharp brown eyes scrutinised me. It was the first time I ever wanted to squirm under her gaze. "It isn't all, Dimitri. What aren't you telling me?" She'd never sounded so mature and demanding.  
I resisted the urge to gulp. "Black, especially black lace, is seen as sexy. It makes everyone's figure look it's best, but a black bra..." I shook my head, "a black bra-"  
I saw the lightbulb moment through her eyes before she finished my sentence. "It will, especially in our society, basically say I'm selling my body. Is that what you're saying? That if I don't want to become like Mom's cousins, if I want to keep my respect for myself, I can't wear black?"

I gave her a sad, sympathetic look. My mind conjured images of her attracting unwanted attention, due to an untrue, inaccurate reputation as a stereotypical bloodwhore. She wasn't going to turn into one of them, not under my watch. She had too much potential as a guardian.

"Oh Rose. For training and that jacket that screams _Dangerous Girl_ , yes, there are _some_ black things you can wear. It's the underwear and bras you've got to be wary of."  
She returned my sad look before setting her face into a determined expression. " _They come first_." She nodded sharply. "I know they're after me too, but they still come first."

As she turned away from the thing she so clearly wanted in order to play grown-up I knew that she was going to be one serious and self-sacrificing, kick-ass guardian. I followed her over to the sports bras with a small, proud smile just barely playing on my lips. It wasn't fair that she was hitting puberty in an unfair, unjust, and oppressive society. If she were Moroi, she'd be fine, but being a young dhampir girl the stakes were higher. Moroi males were going to want to be all over her in time, and it was my _duty_ to make sure she wasn't hurt as my mother had been.

"What about this one?" Rose pointed out a black sports bra.  
"Yes Rose, that one's fine."  
"It's so unfair," she stated and picked out a couple more sports bras. "It's so complicated and so unfair," she repeated thoughtfully while still browsing.  
"I know, Rose, I know. I wish it wasn't, but it is the way it is. The sacrifices we make."  
"That doesn't mean I no longer want to be a guardian. This changes nothing, but I won't sit by and just bow down and take it."  
I chuckled. "You sound like a politician in the making."  
Rose laughed lightly though what she said scared me, of course. "You never know, maybe I am. I do have connections after all."  
I smiled indulgently at her brazen attitude. "You could make a big difference Rose, I hope."  
"I hope so too, Dimi, I hope so too." She picked out one last sports bra that was a kaleidoscope of colours, tugged on my hand and pulled me to the check-out.

"Miss Mazur," greeted the slightly plumpish, middle-aged human woman. If I remembered rightly from the first two trips here, her name was Kalani and she had known Rose from before she was born. She shifted her blue eyes to me. "Ah, Mister Belikov," she smiled like an indulgent grandmother. "I see Mr Mazur has solely entrusted you with his jewel."  
"Yes, he has," I responded politely while adding the clothes Rose had made me carry onto the pile on the counter.  
"Daddy did inform you Dimitri is authorised to sign my account payment, didn't he, Kalani?" Rose asked sweetly.  
"Yes, sweetie, he did." Then she noticed the bras and sports bras she was scanning through. "You're growing up, aren't you, Miss Mazur?" she teased in an indulgent grandmother-like way. "And is this...?" she gasped dramatically at the sight on the jeans and jacket.  
Rose nodded enthusiastically at my side. "Yup! The jacket and jeans Daddy hasn't been letting me buy."  
"Now I suppose this is your doing, Mister Belikov," she asked knowingly in a playful chastisement.  
"Guilty as charged," I confessed. "I talked her out of a dress she wouldn't fit in or wouldn't like come next summer."  
Her blue eyes sparkled in amusement then turned sympathetic. "I guess you had to handle this first bra buy, huh?"  
I shrugged. "I've got sisters," I explained non-committally.  
"You can be embarrassing Dimi."  
"There's nothing wrong with being a girl," I soothed.  
"How would you know?" Rose teased.  
"Because I grew up with only girls, 'member?" I nudged her and she giggled.  
"You two look and act like really good cousins," came from Kalani.  
We shrugged and she laughed before handing me the receipt to sign.  
Rose peaked at the total and gaped. "That's nothing."  
"That's still a lot, Rose. For some that's two years wages." Like, me, for example, and you in the future without access to Abe's hip pocket. Rose could spend like any well-to-do, thoughtless royal Moroi.

We farewelled Kalani and assured her we'd be back over winter break should Rose need to adjust the size of her winter wardrobe. With Rose by my side and carrying most of the bags, we left the shopping centre. And stepped out into the nearly-set sun.


	5. First kill

DPOV  
An ominous feeling washed over me and my stomach clench in anticipation. The car wasn't too far away, but the sun would be gone by the time we reached it.

I halted abruptly and waited for my colleagues to catch up and close in. Beside me was a suddenly nervous Rose.  
"Dimitri?" she asked slowly, carefully enunciating each letter, the fear was evident. She knew something was up, I knew she was reacting to the change in me.  
My eyes scanned purposely, searching out the source of the ominous feeling that was enveloping me, and by extension Rose. "Rose," I said in the tone we were all trained to use when we suspected a Strigoi or danger was nearby. "Take the extra bags and stay close."

The second I felt her soft little hands free me of the bags I spotted one Strigoi lying in wait... Right by the car, much to my horror. All at once I pushed Rose behind me, my right hand made contact with my stake, and any sun cover left disappeared.

"Dimi?" Rose asked as our group stepped off the curb and into the parking lot.  
"Are you scared, Rose?" I deflected.  
"N-no." Her wobbly voice contradicted her.  
"You should be," I murmured seriously as I kept on extra high alert while taking very small steps toward the car.  
"Wh-what? Why?"  
The Strigoi I'd spotted, pounced. "This is why!" I grunted while punching the unnatural creature after my charge.

RPOV  
Dimitri stopped suddenly. I looked around using my skills and became nervous as I realised how dark it was... And how rigid Dimitri now was.  
"Dimitri?"  
Dimitri's eyes scanned with much, much more skill. "Rose," he said purposely. I knew that tone, the tone guardians use to calmly order you around. "Take the extra bags and stay close."

I had just relieved him of the bags as he had asked when I was pushed behind him. I saw his right hand made contact with his silver stake, and the moon and night came out to play.

"Dimi?" I asked as my group stepped towards our car.  
"Are you scared, Rose?"  
"N-no." I was terrified because all six of my guardians were edgy in the nighttime.  
"You should be." We kept taking very small steps.  
"Wh-what? Why?" I knew why, danger was coming.  
"This is why!" Dimi grunted while punching the too pale person that appeared out of nowhere and came lunging at me. As did another four.

One female with short blond hair battled with Zefrina, but one wrong prediction on Zefrina's part led the blond to snap her neck. A scream pierced the night as red eyes met my brown ones. She looked at me as if I were a prize, cruelty, heartlessness and malice dripped from her fangs and were daggers from her eyes. She reached for me, but I ducked away. She came at me again, and again she didn't grip me. She stared at me with rage and hatred, and this time when she reached for me, she got me, locked me to her cold chest with her unnaturally strong cold arms. I was dangling, struggling to bring air into my lunges and had my jugular exposed with her fangs ready to sink into them.  
"No!" screamed Dimitri. "You don't get her!" His stake scraped the Strigoi's forearm. I was dropped and she hissed. "Rose, run!" ordered Dimitri. Kalle grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the car then locked me inside. In all the mess, I'd still managed to keep hold of all the bags. The bags I now let drop to the floor of the car.

I waited for my guardians to return. As I did, my mind kept replaying what I'd just seen. The adrenaline was leaving my system, fear for Dimitri and my other guards took its place. I hated them for killing Zefrina, that hate burned through my body like fire in my veins, competing with fear for dominance over the tensing of my arms, legs, and body. I wanted to punch something, but I also didn't want to move. Again and again I saw the blonde snap Zefrina's neck, making me more likely to scream by the repeat. Then came the image of Dimitri. My Dimi. He was definitely my superhero now. He had had this look in his eye of absolute resolve. He had had his usual protective look in his eyes, which had been accompanied by this... I could only say this desire to kill, to kill to protect me... to die to protect me. Then I screamed. Zefrina had died for me, but I wouldn't stand for Dimitri to die too.

I jumped to the window and searched for the fight. "Dimitri!" I screeched and banged on the window, seeing the rest of my guardians were still alive.  
"Shhh," cooed his gentle, thick Russian accent as he opened the door, pulled me into his arms and pushed me back into the car. "It's okay, Rose, you're okay. You're okay. I'm here, Rose. I'm here. Nothing's going to happen to you, not while I'm here."

I curled into a ball and cried into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his waist and refused to let go. Inhaling, I smelled the blood and leather, sweat and aftershave. The blood didn't phase me as the mix of leather and his sweat and aftershave made me feel at home, safe, and certain he was alive. My duster-clad gentleman of a superhero was alive, and I could breathe once more knowing that one simple fact.

"Don't die on me, Dimi," I begged through clearing sobs. "Please don't ever die. I don't want to be the reason you die."  
He rubbed my back in circles, calming me more. "Oh Rose... I'd die to protect you. Not just because you're my charge, but because you are so special. You're Rose Mazur, and one day you're going to be the best guardian out there. I'd die to make sure you live."  
"I know you'd die for me. That's what scares me! The thought of you dying terrifies me!" The waterworks started again. I buried into his chest and clung to him as if he could turn into air and disappear at any second.  
"Shh... settle Rose, settle. I'm right here." His hand ran through my hair and he clung to me as if I was the one about to disappear from his arms.

When I quieted I still stayed in his arms. I listened to his strong, steady heartbeat and focused my breathing so my heartbeat was in time with his.

A knock on the window made us both jump. It was Kalle, Titov, Helen and Anton. They piled into the car. Kalle and Dimi had a hushed conversation while Kalle started the car and drove away. I zoned out, soon falling asleep against Dimi's arm as I had done when I first met him.

DPOV  
"Are you okay, Belikov?" Kalle enquired while exiting the parking lot. "That was your first encounter, wasn't it?"  
"I'm fine," I lied.

I was anything but fine. Though I was more worried about how I would have lived with myself had Rose died. As it was she was traumatised enough having seen Zefrina die and being in the arms of a monster. Yes, I was definitely more worried over her right now than how I was going to come to terms with having killed two were-once people.

Helen didn't believe me. "Dimitri," she said softly and put her hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off, unnerved by any contact that didn't reassure me Rose was alive, shaken, but alive.  
"Your first kill takes a lot out of you," added Anton.  
"So does losing a charge," murmured Titov. "Especially one you care for deeply." His eyes bore into me. "And we all care for Rose, but no one more than you, Dimitri."  
"I'd never forgive myself if I hadn't saved her," I whispered, barely holding back the tears I'd just dried that had spilled into her curls.  
Kalle smiled, but it was more like a grimace. "You love her. She loves you," he said matter of factly.  
"She's just a child. I can't love her. If I do, then it's as a big brother."  
"For now," mysteriously said Anton.  
Helen added, "Mark our words, Dimitri, for now and likely a long time to come you two do love each other as siblings. But that won't be for ever."  
"What- what do you mean?" Their words confused me. How could love change forms? Wouldn't she always be my little sister? Always a little girl in my eyes?  
"You two have a very unique connection. It'll take years, but you won't always see each other as siblings," clarified Anton.  
"That connection morphed a little- actually it morphed rather a lot- today. You've always naturally gotten along, you've always been protective of her, she's always been clingy to you."  
"But today, that changed. She started seeing you, really seeing you. She read you, understood what you were saying..."  
"And that and what I wasn't."

The realisation astounded and terrified me. I couldn't see her romantically, it just wasn't possible; she still had a missing tooth, very youthful features and innocent thoughts and behaviours. But as I imagined her at my age, a newly graduated eighteen year old guardian, with the ability to see through me, things slightly changed. And it was something I did not want to know. I came back to the present and wiped away all thoughts of the future. I was here to make sure she lived to become that guardian.

Once we parked in the garage, mere moments later I cradled Rose in my arms and carried her inside the front door, through to her room. The others handled her haul of clothes and books. I didn't even stop to greet Abe. He trailed after me, as did my colleagues. I placed her on her bed, removed her shoes then pulled the fairy covers over her. She was one day going to be deadly- possibly be more deadly than me- but for now she still believed in fairies and her parents marrying again all odds.

"Dimitri!" Abe's voice finally came through to me after I'd shut Rose's door and was in the hallway. On my way to cleaning myself up; I didn't crave to feel like a murderer any longer than absolutely necessary.  
"Yes, Sir?" I responded.  
"Why do you look like that? And where's Zefrina?"  
I looked downward, feeling guilty. "She's dead. Sir. The Strigoi got her."  
"Strigoi?" he asked, perplexed and concerned.  
I nodded bleakly. The image of Rose being restrained flared back into my mind's eye and the guilt and fear ran through my veins again. "Yes, Sir. Strigoi. They were after Rose," I met his eyes nervously.  
"Did- did she get caught?"  
I slowly nodded, reluctantly. "The one that killed Zefrina got her." Again the image replayed and a traitorous tear fell.  
"She's okay though, isn't she? Kiz? She's okay?"  
"Shaken. She saw Zefrina fall. She's shaken but okay. A couple of bruises from being clutched too tightly, but otherwise, she's just a little shaken and teary. She'd had a great day up until then."  
He turned gentle, parental. "And you? You haven't seen them before either, have you?"  
"I'm okay as I can be, Sir. No, I hadn't seen them before."  
"Mr Mazur," came Helen's voice in a gentle tone.  
"Yes Helen?"  
"He took down two of the Strigoi. He's as shaken as Miss Rose right now, Sir."  
The mobster turned thoughtful for a few moments. Then he spoke. "Why don't I call Lord Ivan Zeklos?"  
"With all due respect, Sir, he's due to start college and we leave with Rose tomorrow."  
"Then I'll have him meet you at the Academy," Abe shrugged as it were as easy as baking chips instead of frying them. "Now clean up, and I'll have pizzas delivered."  
"Thank you, Sir."  
He smiled. "You saved my daughter. And I just must know what on earth she spent all my money on."  
I laughed at that happy part of the memory. "She did well budgeting, Sir. Hard concept for her to grasp, but she did well."  
Now he laughed. "I bet, Belikov, I bet. Why do you think I made sure it was you who introduced her to the idea?"  
"I wouldn't have a clue."  
He smirked. "Because she listens to you, Dimitri."  
"Ahh..."  
Abe picked up on my mood shift. "Yes, Belikov?"  
I steeled myself. "I may have had to, uh, introduce her to bras, Sir."  
"Thanks, Belikov. I thought she may be hitting that stage." He shook his head reflectively. "She's growing up too fast. And it's only going to get faster, I'm afraid."

"Umm, Sir, I may have let her buy that leather bikie-type jacket..."  
He fixed me with a stern look. "And those jeans?" he demanded to know.  
"Yes."  
"Why," he said intimidatingly slowly and my exhausted muscles clenched in fear, "would you do that, Belikov?"  
"I had to bribe her out of an over-expensive sundress she wouldn't get the wear out of."  
He stroked his goatee in thought. He sighed. "I guess I'll let you off the hook. Though I must see her in them once she's awake. Can you manage that?"  
I nodded sharply. "Yes, Sir." I almost felt like saluting.  
He turned and stalked away, leaving me with my thoughts and desperate desire to rid myself of the evidence of my necessary mercy crime.

"Dimitri?" Rose's voice called to me as she climbed up onto my bed and pulled me into her tiny arms later that night. "Are you okay?"

I hugged her to me to shake away the nightmare. The nightmare that had been me not being fast enough to save her, the blonde Strigoi woman ripping her throat out. Worse still, the blonde turning Rose. Even at twelve, Rosemarie Mazur would make one terrifying Strigoi. She'd be even more deceptively innocent, but much more cunning and lethal. I just could not allow that to happen. I would not allow that to happen. She was alive, alive and well, and I swore to always do my darnedest to make sure it stayed that way.

"I am now," I breathed into her hair. "I am now."  
"Do you see them, Dimi? Do you see her, the one that wanted to..." she swallowed, "the one that wanted to kill me?"  
I'd never been more relieved to hear that sweet nickname in her thick Turkish accent. "Yes, Rose. I see her. I see her and the male I took down before her."  
Her hand found its way to the back of my neck, her fingers traced my promise mark. "Were you scared? Like I was? Were you scared?"  
"I was scared for you," I answered honestly. "I was especially scared of losing you."  
"Is it worth it, Dimi? The pain, is it worth it?"  
I seriously considered it. "For you, to keep you safe, yes, yes it is."  
"But in general? Is it worth it in general?"  
Again I considered while she kept tracing my stretched out s-shaped promise mark. "I think so. We're taught it's the right thing to do, and it is, it's just hard to accept. They were once like us. A kill is a kill, even if it's saving thousands more lives in the process it's still taking one." I sighed. "It's hard to explain, Rose."  
"Then try. I think I'll get it, if not now then later, after my first kill. Just talk to me, Dimitri. Try and talk through what you're feeling. I'll be right here, listening."  
I chuckled sadly. "You're incredibly bright for your age, Rose, incredibly bright. I honestly don't understand how you barely pass your non-combat classes."  
"Who showed you my report?" she softly demanded.  
"Your father. Sorta. It came with your dossier, your info pack."  
She laughed in a whisper. "I know what a dossier is, Dimi. I have been brought up in Daddy's business."  
"See? How do you fail math and just pass languages?" I teased while running my hand through her hair.  
"I have my ways at flunking... and my reasons."  
"You're a menace."  
She shook her head. "I'm not. And I know you're teasing me. I always know."  
"And I'm still learning when you're being cheeky and secretive," I lamented sarcastically. I soon sighed as images of her with red-eyes taunted me.  
"What did you see this time, Dimi?"  
"My worst nightmare. I didn't save you and you ended up turned."  
"But you did save me," she cooed. "I am right here." Now she was the one running her hand through my hair. "I am here. I always will be. I swear."  
"I know, Rose, I know."

We lapsed into silence. The sound of her breathing and the feel of her small body against mine reassured me all was alright and all would be. As long as she was still alive, I could live with taking a life to save hers. Hers and countless others, but hers first and foremost. Yes, the Strigoi were evil and unnatural, and yes they had once had families. But I had to rid this world of them... more importantly, I had to rid the demon or whatever from them. I couldn't stand the thought of spending forever surviving simply by killing, let alone enjoying it in a twisted way.

I soon realised that if I was forcefully turned I would want someone to kill me, I'd be thankful for being killed. As I looked at Rose, I realised that I'd want her to kill me. I knew if she was turned it would kill a part of myself to hunt her and kill her. And if she cared about me half as much as I cared about her, then it would kill her to kill me. But it was what was best all round... nearly all round. With that drastic realisation, I started to come to terms with what I had had to do to save the girl I love, my Turkish little sister.

"I should go," Rose sighed regretfully.  
I fretfully clutched her to me. "Please don't," I begged. "Please, Rose, please stay. Please keep the dreams away."  
She nodded into my chest and the sudden spike of panic I'd felt shoot through me subsided.

Abe'sPOV  
I froze in panic when I didn't find Rose in her room. When I came to my senses what felt like a million years later but could have only been seconds, I took the logical step and walked across the hallway to Belikov's room. Why she'd be in there I'd never know, but something told me she was.

Sure enough, when I cracked open the door and peered in, there she was. I wasn't unused to seeing her asleep on him, or even the two in that bed together, but something irked me about this time. It could have had to do with the fact she was hitting puberty. Or the fact they'd both actually slept together last night, no matter how innocent it still seemed to rub me the wrong way. It could have had to do with I knew she had to have crept in during the night for whatever reason.

I just had this feeling that something had shifted between them last night and I couldn't understand what or why. I couldn't even begin to imagine the happenings of last night. There was something about them this morning that indicated they were closer than ever before, and that really annoyed me today.

Belikov's arm was thrown over Rose's waist protectively and she was asleep with her back to his chest, her arms clinging to Belikov's for dear life. Yet, in this scene of limb entanglement that seemed tense and desperate, there was a feeling of peace and serenity. While I watched, she mumbled incoherently and sighed as she twisted in his arms. As if knowing what her body wanted, his shifted. From laying on his side to laying on his back with her simultaneously shifting to snuggle into his chest. That's when I realised what felt wrong, that was the difference that was itching my brain.

He was topless. Until now, I'd always seen her asleep on him with all clothes on. But currently my pre-teen daughter was snuggled against the bare chest of her eighteen year old guardian. That was what was making this scene before me seem all too adult. Sure, in ten years time it wouldn't be so off-putting if they became lovers. But for now, even though Belikov was little more than a child himself, the scene before me was all too adult and just wrong. Even though I knew they were innocent any others who came across them wouldn't. Despite their compromising entanglement, I knew the love they so clearly shared was for now nothing more than familial. Slightly shaken, but otherwise reassured, I softly closed the door and walked away, trying to repress the memory and forward flash.


	6. Back to school

Abe'sPOV  
"Where's Belikov and Rose?" asked Helen when I entered the kitchen.  
"Asleep as far as I'm aware."  
Helen let out an indulgent sigh. "After yesterday, they deserve a sleep in."  
I couldn't agree more. "Except she's got to head to the Academy."  
"Are you sure you should have let Guardian Hathaway talk you into moving her?"  
"No, I'm not sure, Helen. But she's got you guys. And after yesterday, I'd prefer her at an Academy with more campus guardians."  
"If they can keep the last Dragomirs safe, then with our help they can keep Miss Rose safe."  
I sighed and started on a cold slice of pizza leftover from last night.

"Morning sleepy heads," I greeted as Rose and Belikov shuffled into the kitchen.  
"Not funny, Daddy!" grumbled that daughter of mine.  
"Settle, Rose," cooed Dimitri. She sagged in defeat.  
"Hurry breakfast because you have a jet to catch."  
"Jet?"  
"Later, Kiz. For now, eat."  
Rose went straight for the chocolate glazed donuts Belikov had made last night.  
"Uh uh," he chastised. "They've got to last, Rose."  
"Of course they do. You never do anything for me without restrictions."  
He shook his head at her. "Not really, Rose."  
"I guess you're right and I'm an ungrateful greedy bitch."  
"That's not true, you're a growing girl with lots to learn."  
Rose giggled. "And you're going to be the one to teach me, right?"  
"You've got a lot to discover on your own."

I walked away wondering if either of them realised there were second meanings. Surely, surely, even my too bright twelve year old couldn't recognise that she was nearly on the verge of flirting with him? And surely Belikov could hear it, couldn't he, he could hear the double meanings a twelve year old shouldn't be able to put into a sentence on purpose?

I would have been better living in blissful ignorance until I knew for sure they knew they were interested in each other, like six/ seven years. Now I was living on a knife edge waiting for the feelings to morph and grow and mature. As if Rose wasn't already growing up too fast!

DPOV  
Rose stuck to my side the whole trip to St Vladimir's in America. She was unusually, almost worryingly quiet.  
"Rose? Are you okay?" I asked on the plane, about to descend.  
"No. Not at all. I keep seeing yesterday. And I'm scared. I'm going to be on my own, know no one-" I gently cut off her ramblings.  
"I'll be here. So will the others. And if you're your vibrant, talkative, friendly self you will make new friends in no time."  
She shook her head furiously. "Now all my classes will be in English. Not just that, I don't know who could eventually want to hurt me, kill me even. I won't know who to trust. And what if people don't understand me? What then, Dimi?"  
"You will be fine, Rose. Don't worry."

Alberta'sPOV  
The jet made its landing and I let out a breath I didn't register holding. The group descended, surrounding the little Rosemarie Mazur.  
"Hi, welcome to St Vladimir's, I'm Guardian Petrov, captain of Academy guardians."

I searched for little Rosemarie. And found her hiding behind the tallest of them. From the info packs Abe sent I recognised him to be the young Guardian Belikov. Rosemarie was clinging to his arm and if Abe's most recent update was right, it was because she'd recently been attacked by five Strigoi and seen one of her guardians killed.

"I'm Guardian Belikov," confirmed the tallest with a thick Russian accent, the one Rosemarie was hiding behind. I'd been warned that when it came to him, she was very clingy, didn't like him being out of sight for too long, if it could be helped at all. "Rose..." he continued in Russian, all I picked up was my name. Belikov gently guided Rosemarie around to his side. Both of her hands clutched his. Her dark hair was down in loose curls and she wore embroidered jeans and a black leather jacket. She looked oddly innocent, yet at the same time her outfit screamed she was dangerous and made her look older than she was.  
"Dimi..." she pleaded fruitlessly in Russian. The mixture of the Russian language coming out in a Turkish accent was odd and confusing. Then she turned to me, "I'm Rose." was all she said.  
"Well then, Miss Rose, let's take you to Headmistress Kirova to let her know you've arrived."  
She looked at Belikov and the young guardian nodded.  
"Let's go, Guardian Petrov." He tugged Rose forward and she followed as if on autopilot. She seemed nothing like the infamous dangerous spitfire zmeyette.

In Kirova's office Rosemarie sat in one chair, Belikov in the other- with much initial protesting from Rosemarie- while the rest of us surrounded the room, securing it. Kirova gave her normal welcome speech and outlined the rules Rosemarie had to follow, and how her guardian arrangement was going to be. Rosemarie looked bored with the whole process. I was guessing from her former Academy reports that she was going to break the rules anyway.

Kirova called in Ashford. The young boy novice's eyes lit up at the sight of Rosemarie. I guess someone's got a crush already. I had to admit Rosemarie was very pretty for her age, almost too pretty for it.

RPOV  
"Hi I'm Mason!" excitedly introduced a cute boy. He had red hair sort of like Mom's but different, he also had blue eyes and a few freckles. And he was Dhampir. Maybe Dimi was right, maybe I would make a friend or two. He was cute, but I'm certainly not going to crush on him.  
"I'm Rose."  
"Rose Mazur! Pleased to meet you."  
I hated how almost everyone knew me. It just wasn't right, it wasn't normal, I was certain of that much.  
"Pleasure," I returned.  
Dimi sent me a smirk. "Told you," he teased in Russian.  
"Don't be so sure of yourself, Dimi," I returned, also in Russian.  
"Who's this? And how many languages do you speak?" asked the boy.  
"Three. And that's Dimi, Guardian Dimitri Belikov."  
"Wow! Amazing." he gaped in awe. Apparently someone's crushing on me.  
"Not really. It's needed when you're me."  
"It's still amazing."

"Mr Ashford, show Miss Mazur to class," directed the bitchy and boring headmistress that honestly looked like a hawk.  
He nodded and showed me out the door. I made sure to hold onto Dimi the entire way to the classroom. Ashford chattered on and I faked listening to him. The little boy was too talkative for whatever messed up hour I was in.

When we eventually reached the classroom I pulled my hand from Dimitri's. I strutted in as if I owned the place as I now knew I soon would. The teacher, Ms Cormack, was Moroi and introduced me simply as the new girl to my new classmates. This was going to be fun, I decided. I'd soon run the social groups, I'd make sure of it. Ms Cormack showed me to my seat, and Dimitri stationed himself on the wall a few feet behind me. My other guards joined in around the edge of the room.

"Hi, I'm Lissa," greeted the blonde hair and green eyed girl with a kind smile who sat next to me. Moroi, either Dashkov or Dragomir judging by the shade of green eyes.  
"Rose," I returned confidently.  
Mason sat opposite me, with a brown haired dhampir boy next to him, opposite Lissa.  
"Eddie," the boy greeted. "And you Must be Mazur if you've got guardians."  
"I hate it when people know me," I muttered in Turkish.

"Let's focus, everyone," interrupted Ms Cormack. "What can you tell me about Strigoi?"  
My arm shot up despite myself.  
"Yes Miss Mazur, what can you tell me about Strigoi?"  
"They're ridiculously, inhumanly strong, and insanely pale, with cold, terrifying red eyes. Also, they're fast, faster than imaginable. And they're cold, very, very, very cold." I involuntarily shivered as the memory of only 36 hours ago replayed in my mind. Dimitri's hand found my shoulder and I whipped my head to look at him and smiled. "Thanks Dimi," I said in Russian. He tugged playfully on my ponytail and I giggled.  
"All good as long as you are," he returned also in Russian. "Now pay attention."  
"Guardian Belikov," the teacher warned. "No disrupting class. You should know the rules of being a guardian."  
"Ms Cormack," I snapped sharply. "It is fine, he was just reassuring me over something that I found distressing. He's my guardian and I'm the one that talked first. Don't blame Dimitri, blame me."  
The class stared at me in disbelief and shock. Ms Cormack looked at me in bewilderment. "Okay, Miss Mazur. I will let you off once because you're new, but only once. And please address guardians by their title." She sighed then continued. "Now, where were we? Oh that's right, Strigoi. What else do we know about a Strigoi?"  
This time I didn't let my hand shoot up. A handful of others did let their arms shoot up.  
"Yes, Mr Ayelsworth?"  
"They have fangs," a dhampir boy responded.  
Ms Cormack nodded. "They do." She singled out a Moroi next. "Mr Zeklos, what else?"  
"They can't go in the sun, they turn to ash."  
"Good. Yes, Mr Sarcozy?"  
"I don't like him," muttered Lissa.  
"Hmm," I gave as a sign I'd heard.  
"They're impossible to kill," he said, I think it would be described as belligerently.  
Lissa muttered again, "He's an idiot."  
"He most certainly is." I was beginning to like this girl. Her, I would make friends with for sure.  
"Not quite right. They can be killed, it's hard, but it can be done."  
"That it most certainly can," I mumbled in Turkish.  
"Anyone want to tell me the three ways they can be killed?"  
My hand shot up again. Damn it for being targeted by them not so long ago.  
"Yes, Miss Mazur?"  
"They can be staked through the heart with a magic-infused stake. Or they can be decapitated- heads chopped of for those who don't know. Or they can be incinerated by fire." Again, I received gaped mouths. This time I realised it was because I was using big words they didn't know.  
"Yes, Miss Mazur. Next time, please save us the gruesome details."  
Time to talk back. Again. These people knew Nothing about the Strigoi. "The Strigoi are the monsters from ones worst nightmare. They spare no one. And they can snap a neck with a flick of their hand, like clicking fingers."  
"Enough, Miss Mazur! You are scaring the others."  
"Good! Because they are Terrifying. One of my guardians died at their cold, merciless hands, and I had to Watch! Nothing you can say will ready any of us until you've seen them... and by then you could be dead!"

After a disastrous start to the day, the bell for first break went off. Finally! My guardians flanked me as I left for the cafeteria, Dimitri by my side as normal.  
"Oh Rose. You are a handful. What are we to do with you?" he taunted playfully in Russian.  
I shrugged dramatically and laughed. "Why should I know?"  
He chuckled once and it was like angels were singing. He soon sighed, becoming serious. "How are you Rose? Really?"  
"Tired and annoyed," I told him honestly and joined the lunch line, ignoring the stares if I registered them. "There's nothing they can teach us that prepares us for the sight of them."  
Dimitri shot me a sad smile. "You're right, Rose. They don't prepare us enough." I saw it as an idea hit him. A cheeky smile broke out as he loaded a red tray with food. I copied him. "How about I talk to Guardian Petrov about giving you extra lessons? You're already ahead, why not keep you ahead? I know you, you'll be bored if you have to stay at snails pace."  
I laughed and saw Lissa, Mason and Eddie called me over to their table. I clearly had one group already.

If I'd thought I'd escaped interrogation from my classmates over my Strigoi sighting, I was dead wrong. Eddie, Mason and Lissa fired questions at me. I dutifully answered with thinning patience. The ones I couldn't answer I deflected to Dimitri. Once they exhausted all those questions the bell went.  
"Play time!" Lissa squealed.  
I groaned. I wanted to be in my combat classes.

When the bell went to go split into magic classes for Moroi and combat classes for dhampir I nearly literally jumped for joy.  
"Right you lot," Guardian Celeste, I believe her name was, called us to order. "Let's do five laps around the edge of the court then we'll stretch you and do core exercises."

With grumbles from the others, we set to it. I sprinted out my easy five laps, leaving the rest behind. Celeste smiled at me. "You are as good as we were warned."  
I laughed. "You've seen nothing."  
She nodded then slipped a mask in place. The others soon returned, just not soon enough for me. "Okay, let's stretch."

After twenty minutes of stretching she sent us round the gym again for eight laps due to talking coming from others. With my training I decided I'd 'push myself' to do sixteen laps. Still I finished before the class. Though this time I didn't need to waste as much time waiting for the untrained time wasters.

"Now, get a mat each for the store room. Time to strengthen and toughen up. You won't get half the skill you need to learn this year if you don't do this properly." Celeste faced me, "Miss Mazur, please feel free to do extra repetitions or exercises you've been taught. As long as you finish with the rest of us."  
I grinned and nodded happily. The class mumbled under their breath. I caught a handful. "Dunno if she's lucky or not."  
"Not fair."  
"Why can't I go to school in Turkey?"  
"Of course the Mazur's a know it all with an attitude."  
"Teacher's pet." And so on and so forth.

"Guys, focus! I want you to start with a plank, anyone drops, partly drops, fidgets or doesn't have the right technique will make the class restart and hold for an extra thirty seconds per student per mistake. We're going for three minutes. Okay, set. Up. Hold." Celeste started her timer and walked around making sure everyone was holding the right positions.

I squeezed all my core, my butt, my thighs and calves, and my arms. My fists clenched together and pressed against the mat, trying to press right into the floor. My toes similarly dug into the floor as my perfectly positioned and angled flat back held and my face scrunched up- more in focus than in pain.

As Celeste checked my form, my muscles still hadn't started to tingle, let alone burn. "Good form, Rose. Are you hurting yet? Any of you?"  
One girl who soon after let her knee start to drop grunted out a yes.  
"Thank you, Julie. Now we all restart for three and a half minutes."

As I dropped I nearly grinned. I was close to holding the plank for seven minutes straight. So as I re-set I hoped they'd end up making us try for five minutes. Then I'd really be happy.

"Up." Celeste clapped her hands, "Hold."  
I squeezed yet again. Not long after, Meredith started to drop her hips and Mason fidgeted. I'd just barely begun to feel my muscles engaging.  
"Meredith and Mason, thanks to you, the whole class now has to hold for four and a half minutes. I know it seems boring, but it is vital. All of this is. We need to build up your strength, endurance and stamina now. I know we say hitting, punching, kicking and killing Strigoi is what it's all about, but this is the only way you are going to be strong enough to learn the moves we need to. There's a lot more theory to come in older grades, but you won't get to those grades unless you start working now. All clear? Now, set up. Up. Hold."

Four and a half minutes later, I was starting to shiver.  
"Let's go for another thirty seconds, good work so far." Thirty seconds later nothing had changed. "Another thirty." Still no change with me but the others seemed about ready to complain. "Another thirty." Now I was burning. "Another thirty." I was certainly burning all over now. "Okay, relax."  
My classmates sighed rather over-dramatically.  
"Enough. On your backs. Now!" Celeste snapped when the group didn't respond quick enough. "I was going to do fifty sit-ups, now you're doing a hundred. Go!"  
I ended up doing 150 sit ups.  
"Right. Push-ups. The lot of you, no knees cheating. 120. Go!" She clapped again, and again she moved around the room.  
174 sit-ups later, the others had finished their 120.  
"Next, ordinary crunches. 200. Go!"  
With adrenalin running through me I felt fine despite my beginning to complain body. I'd done much more than the others, but still not as much as normal.  
306 crunches later another direction came. "Right. 600 each side of cross crunches. Then 150 sit ups. After that another 130 push ups."  
I totalled 1500 side crunches, 204 sit ups, and 180 push ups. Now I was staring to sweat like a pig and feeling my whole body burning.  
"On your feet!" called Celeste. "We're changing up some core exercises. A battle with a Strigoi ends up looking something like a dance, and with that in mind, we're bringing in some drills humans use in dance and cheerleading training. It's am odd idea, I know, but beneficial. Now, starting with jump, jump, squats." She demonstrated. Easy enough. "We're going for 60."  
I ended up doing 70. They were a little harder than I'd assumed and really burned in my thighs.  
"Next, squat flicks." Again Celeste demonstrated. Bend as deep as possible, push up and off the ground to flick your ankles together. "70 of them. Go!"  
This time I only got to the required 70. Again, harder than it looked.  
"Next, we're focusing on our arms. Cherry pickers. Arms out straight, in a straight line, palms up, don't let your arms drop. Okay, nice. Now, curl into your hands into tap your shoulders, then straighten those arms and Squeeze them to your ears and reach to the roof. Back down to tap your shoulders then uncurl. Good. Now, 100 of them. Then you can go get water."  
150 cherry pickers later and I chugged down an amount of water. I also wiped away my sweat... knowing it wouldn't stay even remotely close to dry for long.

"Laps again. This stamina is beyond important. Seven laps. Then we'll move onto more evasion moves, working on reaction time and fluidity."

Once the day was over, Celeste approached me after I'd demanded with raised arms and pleading face for Dimi to pick me up. Much to my classmates' dismay. I was tired and sore and wanted to go to sleep. Stupid jet-lag.  
"Nice job today, Rose." She smiled before addressing Dimitri. "You're Belikov, right?"  
"Yes."  
"She's been trained at home, hasn't she?"  
"Yes, she has. It's manly jet-lag getting her now. She can handle much more than that." Dimitri propped me up on his hip again I fought the urge to giggle.  
"Why don't we go to Petrov and see about extra lessons to keep pushing her?"  
"I'm right here!"  
"Rose," Dimitri lightly chastised and I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder and, unfortunately, my sigh turned into a yawn as I snuggled in.  
"You're too cute, Rose."  
I simply grinned widely but tiredly at her. "I know."

Celeste led us to Petrov's office. I sat on Dimitri's lap almost falling asleep on his chest.  
"Celeste, Belikov, trouble already?"  
"No, no," they reassured.  
"We were wondering if it were possible for Rose to have extra sessions in the gym with Belikov and co. since she's so far ahead already."  
"How long would you need, Belikov?" Petrov considered.  
"At least an hour, perhaps two. We used to train her for three back in Turkey."  
"Hmm..." she fiddled with the computer for a bit. "I can give you the senior gym for two hours in the morning and the Junior gym for three in the afternoon. Is that workable?"  
"Yes, Petrov. That would be brilliant. Thank you," Dimitri's honey voice was lulling me to asleep, along with the rumbling of his chest as he spoke.  
"Okay. Consider it done. You can start tomorrow."

As soon as we stepped out the door, I fell asleep.


	7. It's all new

DPOV  
I gently woke Rose for our third morning training.  
"Go away, Dimi!" she grumbled into her pillow.  
"Come on, Rose. Don't you want to learn new stuff? Stuff the others won't know for years?" I ran a coaxing hand through her hair.  
"I wanna sleep," was her barely intelligible response. I looked back at the door as it was opened by a sleepy but determined best friend of mine.  
"Let me try," Ivan whispered and replaced me sitting on the edge of Rose's bed. "Come on Ro-Ro, Uncle Ivan won't show you any cool magic if you don't wake up and get to training." I stifled a chuckle.

Ivan had somehow decided to assert himself as her unofficial _Uncle_ , and liked to use up the last half hour of training to show off his fire magic skills. And Rose was loving it. She clearly loved him for it, but it was nothing like the way she clung to me and cared for me so deeply it never ceased to amaze me.

"Okay, okay!" she relented and swatted him away, sitting up and throwing off her fairy covers that had just **_had_** to make the journey with us. "I'm up, you freaks!" Rose teased and cut me a playful glare and swatted Ivan again. "Let a girl get changed and I'll be in the Senior gym in ten."  
"No chance, Rose. We'll be waiting outside. Your ten minutes are more like twenty- especially in the morning."  
Again she glared at me and huffed. Ivan and I took that as our cue to step outside.

"She's a handful, buddy," Ivan laughed after we'd stepped into the hallway. "I really don't get how you put up with her," he teased and punched me lightly on the shoulder.  
"I love her," I shrugged my shoulders, "she's like my little sister, only difference is she's Turkish."  
Ivan looked at me incredulously. "I did hear you right, didn't I? I did just hear you say you love that little Mazur monster?"  
I laughed. "Yeah, you did. And don't look at me like that! You love her too, you idiot!" I teased.  
He dropped his jaw dramatically. "I do not! You're delusional, Dimitri."  
I shook my head. "You do too. It's hard not to love her once you know her. She's so innocent despite being so cunning."  
"She is sweet," he conceded, "and innocent."  
"And traumatised," I sighed sadly.

Again, I was assaulted by the images of her in the clutches of that blonde Strigoi, being turned and having her throat ripped out. Before I knew what was happening Rose's small form had bounded into my arms and wrapped her little arms around my neck.

"I'm right here, Dimi. You're okay and I'm fine, I'm perfectly okay," she whispered into my ear. "I'm not going anywhere, Dimi."  
I buried my face into the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent grounded me, reassuring me that she was most certainly alive. "I know, Rose, I know." I gently squeezed her to me then cautiously set her on her feet. She gripped my right hand in both of her little ones and tugged me downstairs with Ivan dutifully following behind us.

Ivan'sPOV  
Rose had Dimitri absolutely whipped, it was adorable, watching her pull him to the Senior campus and gym. She was so tiny and he was so damn tall, but she had a character that made her seem twice her petite size- even when hiding behind and clinging to him. Not even Viktoria- his littlest sister- made Dimitri so soft, protective, defensive. Rose Mazur had made him truly happier than I'd seen in years... yet she also made him vulnerable.

I had come learn that she was so deep in his heart already that the recent attack on her by Strigoi had left him with nightmares, ones that happened day and night thanks to guilt and trauma- hence my presence at St Vladimir's for this semester. Yes, I'd taken a full semester off collage to spend it with my best friend to help him out and support him. Dimitri was like a brother to me after all.

I watched on as zmeyette was trained by Dimitri, completely engrossed yet again. If you'd said to me five months ago that I'd get a kick out of watching Dimitri train Rosemarie Mazur, I would have laughed and not believed you. Now, however, I was dead serious when I said she was incredibly talented and Dimitri was an amazing teacher.

"Okay Rose, time to focus. I want thirty laps for warm up. Laps, not lines, Rose. And I expect you to challenge your personal best, I don't care if it's a second or a minute you shave off. The faster you can run while tired, Miss Morning Grumbles, the better."  
Rose shot Dimitri a glare for the nickname but nodded obediently then set about completing her task. Dimitri joined me on the bleachers, timing her with a yellow stopwatch.  
"You're doing well with her, man," I assured as he watched Rose critically and adoringly. Yeah, he really did love her. He really had been right earlier when he said it was hard _not_ to love her.  
"Thanks. I sometimes wonder if I'm too tough on her."  
I shook my head adamantly. "No, you're not, Dimitri."  
He nodded in gratitude and thanks.

"Nice work, Rose," he complimented when she completed her laps. "Thirty seconds shaved."  
"Thanks, Dimi. What next?" Rose asked as they sat on the floor and stretched.  
"Revising what sparring moves you learned yesterday, then we'll move onto three new moves."  
Rose's face scrunched up in confusion. "What about strength work?"  
Dimitri smirked at her. "That's all you're doing this afternoon."  
Rose let out a playful groan and Dimitri chuckled indulgently at her.

After grasping the new moves Dimitri taught Rose today and perfecting the moves from yesterday Dimitri sat Rose down, Rose climbing onto his lap, and he taught her some more theory. Theory hadn't been included in the last few days. I'd have to ask him how frequently he intended to do that with her.

"What don't you know about Strigoi?" he asked the baby cute guardian in training.  
She shot him a look like he was crazy. "How should I know what I don't know, Dimi?"  
"Since your brain is fully switched-on, I guess it's time for battle theory."  
"I can say that Strigoi don't play by the rules they teach us."  
A bright, amused smile lit his face. "I was right, you _are_ so _incredibly_ bright, Rose. I fully agree, they don't play by the rules, but it doesn't mean the training that extends from that theory is completely worthless."  
Rose turned thoughtful. She nodded a few moments later. "So what do you want to teach me now?"  
"Incapacitating without killing, more geared towards opponents that aren't Strigoi- unless you slice them with a stake on these same spots." He moved Rose so she sat opposite him. "These are your vital pressure points." He grabbed her tiny hand and precisely placed it around his wrist, like a sparring block or taking a pulse. "Squeeze hard enough and twist and you'll disarm an armed opponent. Or, slash a Strigoi there, right across the vein and you'll stun it for a few vital seconds..." Dimitri's look turned reflective and tender, "It's basically how I freed you the other day. **_Don't_** **_ever_** underestimate the power of these points and a stake."  
Rose nodded thoughtfully. "Noted. Where else?"  
"Here, the Brachial." He moved her hand to slightly above his elbow. "This is ideal to numb a Strigoi's entire forearm and hand." I watched in awed silence as he rubbed her thumb over a specific muscle/ vein meeting spot. "Right here is an ideal stake jab," Dimitri noted while looking deeply and meaningfully into Rose's eyes.  
"Ideal, but nearly impossible to hit?" Oh, she _was_ bright. She was going to be incredibly lethal from such a young age.  
Dimitri nodded seriously and sadly.

Alberta'sPOV  
I decided it was time to check on how the young but skilled and lethal Belikov was mentoring the little Mazur. So I checked the Senior gym on my way to my shift.

I found Lord Ivan Zeklos avidly watching as his best friend sat crossed legged opposite Rosemarie on the gym floor, guiding her hand from above his elbow to above his left knee. He twisted so he was at right angles to her, straightened out the leg and adjusted her hand's placing. All the while he was talking intently in Russian. The only word I picked up was Strigoi. Rose nodded in understanding then asked a question. He nodded, grabbed her hand again and made her stand and move behind him, then he placed said hand over his clavicle. That's when I realised he was teaching her the main pressure points used in our profession, that was two years above her grade level. Potential she truly had, and dedication.

I left them be and opened my office. Seconds later Celeste knocked on the door.  
"Yes, Celeste?" I asked the young guardian.  
"I was just wondering about Miss Mazur, do you know how advanced she is? How much altering will I need to do this year for her?"  
"You should consult directly with Belikov. I checked this morning and he was teaching her pressure points."  
She nodded. "That's what, a year ahead? Two?"  
I nodded my agreement. "Two. As I said, talk to Belikov about her other combat skills. For now, my suggestion is leave the new skills and theory to Belikov and just focus on her strength. Maybe move her up for combat time later in the term. Just make sure to consult with Belikov."  
Nearly reluctantly, she nodded and then left.

Celeste'sPOV  
I found Belikov at breakfast in the staff room. "Belikov."  
"Celeste," he returned in a heavy Russian accent.  
I sat opposite him. "I was hoping to discuss Miss Mazur's training schedule and program."

His face was unreadable now since, despite Rose being the topic, she wasn't around. Seeing this stoic, lethal, barely graduated guardian's soft side was a little unsettling when it came out to play... which was only ever around his tiny, unique charge.

"Of course," he stiffly agreed. "What would you like to know?" His English was far from broken, but his accent made it challenging to communicate.  
"I'd like to know how far ahead of the standard curriculum she is."  
"At least one full year, nearly two."  
"Theory and prac? And her general fitness?"  
His lips twitched. "Theory and prac. As for general fitness, you could put her in the Sophomores and she would be able to endure it even without the needed skills."

I turned reflective. Maybe putting her in with the senior middle years would be enough for now. But maybe, just maybe, a Freshman timetable in the afternoon would be more productive, challenging and engaging? Could she handle that structure? And the theory, how would she handle the theory?

"How would she handle a more structured afternoon timetable? Like a Freshman schedule?"  
Belikov remained quiet and unreadable as he assessed the progress of his charge and- for all intents and purposes- little sister. "I may be wrong, but I believe she could handle it. She's fit enough. I'd just need to catch her up a little more quickly..."  
"Theory? Would she be able to absorb the theory?"  
Without hesitation, he nodded. "Yes. She is incredibly bright. She would understand and absorb the theory."  
"I'll confer with Alto, Petrov and Emil to have her shifted as soon as possible."  
"Thank you, Celeste. Rose is chomping at the bit every afternoon block."

RPOV  
"Rose," Dimi carefully addressed as the bell for gym classes went.  
"Yes, Dimi?" I looked at him with worry coursing through my veins.  
"Come with me," he smiled and I eagerly grabbed his hand. "You've been moved to the Senior campus for afternoon block, to train and learn with the Freshmen," he told me while leading me away from my gym.  
"Wh- what?"  
"You're joining in with the Freshman classes," Dimi beamed proudly.  
"Dimi! They're like, three years older than me!" And I was scared of them. I'd have to start making friends all over again, getting to know even more new teachers. I'd not know the theory they did!  
"Settle, Rose," he soothed and brought me to Alberta.

Alberta introduced me to my new class of dhampir only. The normally unconcerned and non-judging teens shot me some very judging and sceptical looks but said nothing. That wasn't to say they didn't warm to me by the end of class, they did. Thank The Lord.

"I'm Casper," introduced a boy with short blond hair and a recognisable accent.  
"You're Turkish!" I asked in my mother tongue. I scrutinised him further, messy blond curls, sharp face, tall for his age, freckles and deep blue eyes. "You're Jude's brother, aren't you, Casper Talezur?" Jude was one of my closest friends back at St Jazzmin's; Casper was his kind-at-heart rebellious brother.  
"Yes, I am." He looked slightly scared that I recognised him. I guess that's what happens when you're zmeyette.  
"You're my best friend's big brother, you idiot," I reality-checked him in Turkish. "Of course I know you."  
"Well then, I guess you're now my responsibility for these classes, huh?" he responded in English.  
I heard Dimi let out an unintended hiss but he let Casper be all valiant and walk me to class.


	8. Changes as time passes

Casper'sPOV  
Over the month I got to know just how bright and promising Rose Mazur was. And friendly. With an overprotective Guardian Belikov's help she managed to catch up with the theory I was learning. After asking Guardian Petrov's permission I even brought her to the Senior campus cafeteria for lunch every second day. She was settling in well, making friends with anyone she could if she liked and trusted them. And she soon adjusted to the teachers here. I'd been moved last year so I knew what a big change she was going through, and spent an amount of time with her helping her through it all. Much to Belikov's dislike. As I said, _overprotective_. He also didn't like me much because Rose was by my side more than his.

"Don't touch her," I growled when the class's self-absorbed player Aidan Zeklos slapped Rose's butt as we left the cafeteria the fifth Tuesday after she'd been moved up to Freshman novice classes.  
"Want her to yourself, do you?" he asked haughtily.  
" _Asshole_ ," I muttered in Turkish and walked away.

The problem was that I _did_ like Rose. Too much for someone two, almost three, years older than her. She was **_hot_** and had become so in the last few weeks... not that she hadn't already been _cute_ , but she had grown in height and other features, her face had matured a little too. It wasn't as if I wanted to sleep with her, I just wanted to know what it felt like to kiss her and hug her. More importantly, I cared about her. _A lot._

"I think you get off on saving me," Rose teased in Turkish as the gym came into view.  
"I don't know what you're talking about. I know full well you can save yourself."  
She shot me a bright, taunting smile before softening a little. "Thanks Cas," she murmured before reaching up and pecking my lips. Her lips lingered, as if asking for more, and I found myself deepening the kiss.  
"What was that?" I asked breathlessly with a tentative smile playing on my lips.  
"Isn't that what you do with someone you like?"  
"Yes," I said before I leaned down and quickly kissed away her confused pout.

RPOV  
Dimitri had been giving me and Casper dark, disapproving looks all afternoon. He finally cracked it at the start of afternoon training.  
"I don't like that Casper kid," he said pointedly in Russian.  
" _You_ don't have to," I spat, using his first language.  
"He's three years older than you, Rose."  
"So? It's not like I'm going to **_sleep_** with him, if _that's_ what you're worried about." That would be impossible to organise, even for me.  
If possible his face hardened further and he crossed his arms over his chest. I'd never seen him so upset, so angry, but I would never admit it scared me. And made me feel _incredibly_ guilty. "You'd be surprised what sparks nasty rumours. You can't afford a reputation for being easy, Rosemarie." _Y-ouch!_ That stung. He was **_really_** pissed off if he was using my full name. He never had before and it came as shock so great I felt as though he'd stabbed me.  
"Why can't I just be a kid? I'm nearly thirteen, after all."

I knew all the reasons and believed he was overreacting. I could kiss the boy I liked, the one that liked me too. Dimitri was overreacting. I **_wanted_** to kiss Casper, I wanted to kiss him a lot. He was a good kisser too, his lips were so soft and caring, his arms that had encircled my waist had been strong and supportive. It wasn't like he was a Moroi douche-bag like Aidan Zeklos or Aidan's younger brother and my egocentric classmate Jesse.

"You **_know_** why! If you want to _experiment_ with boys," he spat, "then that Ashford kid's already pining after you like a lost puppy."  
"I don't _like_ Mason in that way! How could you even suggest that?"  
"Because he's safe. Unlike Casper and his friends."  
"What is your problem with Casper, Dimitri!" I was quickly growing tired of arguing with him but I wasn't about to give up.  
"They're Moroi and they'll start going after you the millisecond he turns his back. They'll brag of even trying to touch you, no matter it being against your will."  
I looked at him in disbelief and outrage. "You don't get to control my life, Dimitri. I won't let you try to." I huffed and ran from the gym, off to find Ivan. He'd understand and talk some sense into Dimitri... at least I **_hoped_** he would and could.

"Rose?" Ivan asked in concern when he noticed my face. I'd barged into his guest room and slammed the door shut behind me, but Ivan didn't call me on it, much too worried about my fury and pain. Fighting with Dimitri was causing an ache in my chest, one I didn't recognise and couldn't name.

DPOV  
 _What the hell had just happened?_ I strode out of the gym, trying to follow her, and failing. She was too fast and I'd been frozen in shock and pain for too long. We had never fought like that before. And I had never lost my patience with her. But seeing her kiss that Casper Talezur boy had made my temper flare. Dangerously so.

We were both still suffering, but she seemed to be favouring him more and more each day. He adored her, that much was clear, but if she went out with him to any degree his Moroi friends and classmates were going to make my second worst nightmare come to life. And as a dhampir she would be the one the blame would be laid on, it would be her fault, her reputation marred. By letting him in she was allowing his classmates to think they could and attempt to take advantage of her. I didn't want her future compromised... Truth be told I didn't want her compromising herself. I didn't want her near boys, **_period_** , not that I wanted to or would admit it to myself in that many words... in _any_ words.

I had a hard few years ahead of me if she was going to be this determined and head-strong, this desperate to experiment. I didn't have **_that_** much against her learning her roles in our society as a female, but I'd much prefer her doing so with boys her own age. Dhampir boys at that. She already had a name for being dangerous, being easy or living up to the way the Moroi already see dhampir women and girls was **_not_** something she could afford. I could already tell she wanted to guard Vasilisa Dragomir, one of the last few of the major royal family, and earning a reputation and string of black marks was **_not_** the way to prove worthy of having Vasilisa as her charge.

I ended up back in my dorm on my bed with a Western favourite in my hands. I **_had_** to cool off. I had a job to do. I had to keep my focus. As much as I love her and want to protect her I have to accept I can't wrap her in bubble wrap and blankets forever. The more I try the harder she'll try to free herself, landing herself in a worse mess than the one I was already desperately trying to prevent. She knew why; I knew she knew, and I knew she knew I knew she knew why she had to avoid boys and the rumours that result from too much exposure... at least too much exposure to Moroi boys. Especially the rumours those Moroi boys start.

I'd barely regained my self-control when Ivan walked in. I groaned when I noticed his face. "She has you whipped, Ivan. I overreacted, I know that. It's just she brings out the best and worst in me."  
He looked at me knowingly. "You're the whipped one, dude. Admit it, you're jealous."  
I glared. "I am **_not_** jealous, Zeklos."  
He dared to laugh and punch my shoulder. "You keep telling yourself that, Belikov, and you may one day believe it. Like the day you die."  
"I am not jealous. To be jealous that would mean I was **_in_** love with her, and I'm **_not_** in love with a child."  
"You love her, that's enough right now. You're so used to her clinging to you, you're having trouble letting her find her own way in life and love. She needs to spread her wings a little, you know that. She needs to discover her true feelings for you; she needs to learn how lucky she is to have you. I'm just sorry you have to watch the process and be the one she'll always come boomeranging back to."

Watch her 'fall in love' with Casper Talezur I most certainly did. I watched on in agony and worry as they continued to grow closer over the next two months. I watched silently as the kisses got deeper and hands started exploring places they absolutely shouldn't. I watched as the male Moroi freshmen tried to touch her and slam her. Casper always defended her, protected her and had the rumours about her changed. I was out of earshot when she suddenly ended it one lunch and walked away, back to her dorm. In tears.

"Dimi!" she cried desperately and flung herself into my arms. Of course I'd already figured she was about to cut classes so had had her excused. She spent the afternoon sobbing into my chest. I felt like I should be able to supply her with a tub of chocolate Ben & Jerry's ice cream. And chocolate donuts. But right now she needed me more than comfort food.  
"Shh, Rose. It'll be okay eventually. You'll heal. You'll be fine. You're so strong, so, so strong."  
She said nothing more as she cried herself to sleep. She didn't even stir for dinner, which was a first. It was nearly curfew when I left and found Ivan.

"Told you she'd come back to you," was how he greeted me.  
"No need to be so cocky. You have _no clue_ how heartbreaking it is to hear her cry over a boy I knew she liked less than she believed." I grabbed a Coke from the fridge and flopped on the comfy couch.  
Compassion shone in his eyes. "It's all that Aidan's fault, I'm sure."  
"I _know_ it is," I grumbled.

I'd seen him slowly convincing Casper that Rose was no good. And Rose had blubbered to me countless times that Casper had suddenly backed Aidan at lunch today. Rose ended it because she wouldn't let herself be treated as dirt. She kept her self-respect in tact but it had come at a cost. She'd learn from it, I knew. But in the meantime my heart broke for her and for me. I still didn't yet desire her romantically, but I couldn't deny she was developing into one good looking young teenager. It was changing all too quickly, she was growing up so fast... physically at least, and with it came all sorts of trouble.

First semester wrapped up soon after and Ivan, his guardians, Rose, Rose's other guardians and I were headed to Turkey for Christmas. We wouldn't get a long break but it was enough to achieve a few things. Such as a white Christmas and stereotypical hot ham and turkey dinner with all the trimmings.

Abe even managed to convince Rose to sell the majority of the clothes and shoes she no longer wore because she didn't fit into them. That money went towards paying for our next shopping expedition.

This time she basically had to restock her bra collection because she'd grown a cup in just over three months... which meant she also had to be convinced to sell her barely used collection. Surprisingly enough her new best friend, Vasilisa, bought the whole of said collection when we returned to the Academy.

"Rose," I warned when she reached for a skimpy top. "It's the middle of winter. Get another leather jacket and a cute but sensible long-sleeve top."  
Oh, if looks could kill I'd be long-since dead. Apparently we were about to fight again. "I don't want to look **_cute_** , Dimitri. I wanna look **_hot_**."

 _You don't need any help in that department._ ** _Where the hell did that thought come from?_**

"You _want_ to be practical and realistic, Rose."

What had happened to the too-intelligent twelve year old I met nearly six months ago? Oh, I know, puberty hit and hormones and emotions took over. That's what happened and killed the cute, and still largely child-like pre-teen I'd been introduced to.

"I'm capable of dressing myself, Dimitri," she snapped. "I don't need your opinion or approval."  
 _Y-ouch. She did_ ** _not_** _realise how deeply that stung._  
"When are you going to learn I'm doing this to protect you," I ground out through my teeth, my jaw clenched painfully as I dug my nails into my palms. She infuriated me sometimes. Yet I loved her regardless. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right that she could control my emotions as she did, that she could ruin my hard earned and barely retainable self-control with half a look, in half a heartbeat.  
"Maybe when you stop trying to _control_ me."  
"How about this?" Ivan interrupted, holding up a long-sleeved, full body length, red version of the skimpy black top.  
Her eyes lit up with desire, the other top and our argument fallen by the wayside. "I _love_ it. Thanks Ivan."

Great, now my best friend has her seeing sense. What on earth was I doing wrong? Why could he make her listen now when I suddenly couldn't?

One other major thing that happened over the two week break was that Abe decided it was time to move. Much to Rose's disappointment, Abe was downsizing instead of moving us into a bigger mansion. It had nothing to do with affordability, I was told. It was an exercise in Rose's favour. She wasn't going to be so privileged for much longer, so Abe took advantage of this to adjust her expectations of living standards. Not to mention since she was in America with us and he was travelling more it was just impractical for the mansion to be kept.

So, I was once again left trying to explain all of this to Rose. But was she listening to me? Not at all.  
"But I'm hardly home anyway!"  
"That's part of the point, Rose. There's no point keeping a house so big when none of the family is home."  
"But there's always..." on she went to list off the staff. There were cooks and cleaners and all manner other helpers.  
"They're not needed when no one's home, Rose." Once more her attitude was tiring me and my patience was wearing thin. She was as privileged as many royal children and had no concept of how to live in the real world.  
Rose's brown eyes bugged. "You mean no one else is moving!"  
"Geoffrey is moving and so is Kaitlynne."

Geoffrey was the butler and Kaitlynne was the head cook. I'd been informed that while the new house was devoid of occupants other than themselves, they would be house sitters and share the cleaning duties. While we were present, however, we were all in charge of keeping certain areas clean and up to a certain standard that would impress Abe's business partners, should we ever have to entertain any of them at home. This was the thing I was most hesitant to inform Rose of since she firmly believed in living in organized messes. They were her best friend and had made two dorm searches last semester absolute nightmares.

As it turned out, once she saw the new house the move wasn't so bad after all. Rose's love and awe of the more 'homey' style very-mini-mansion rendered our argument redundant.

The most obvious difference in size and grandure was that four levels had been reduced to one. Luxuries such as marble floors and floor-to-ceiling mirror feature walls in hallways were removed from the equation. Where floors were marble in the old mansion, the new house had shiny white tiling. Where one side of a hallway would have once been floor-to-ceiling mirrors, it now was a more yellow shade of cream compared to the opposite plain white wall. Where the old mansion had had chandeliers, the new house simply had energy-efficient LED down-lights.  
The number of bedrooms had been dramatically reduced- from 108 down to 12- as had the distance between them.  
The kitchen was an ordinary one more-or-less, with two common pantries, two standard ovens and a single stovetop. Two French-door fridges and one full-size, free-standing freezer replaced the old mansion's professional-style cold room. The kitchen connected to the dining room on the kitchen's right, backed onto the living room and overlooked the backyard. Where the kitchen had resided on a downstairs level at the old mansion and had been tiled, this new kitchen was floored with linoleum instead.  
Where Abe had a veritable library in the mansion, here it had been reduced (a number of the books he had sold); and the books of Rose's she kept or the ones of hers that didn't sell went into a private bookshelf in Rose's new room.  
The old mansion had housed three offices for Abe, here there was only one. All files of his that were older than my nearly nineteen years had been scanned directly onto portable hard-drives, the papers incinerated, the hard-drives locked away in a safe in his new office and the scanner was soon enough destroyed.

Another big change in this plan was the room assignments. All the occupied bedrooms were home to two people... Abe was the only exception. Abe naturally occupied the master bedroom and ensuite. Rose and I shared a room with two queen sized beds and the only other ensuite in the place. In the old mansion, every room had come with an accompanying ensuite. That wasn't true here; only the master and master-guest rooms had an ensuite with them. Geoffrey and Kaitlynne had been roomed together. As had Helen and Titov. Anton and Kalle shared another room. While Molly and Heather- two of Abe's four privately-hired guardians- shared a room. As did Pavel and Mark- Abe's other two guardians. Why Abe had felt the need to have six rooms for guests I will never know... it wasn't as if they were really going to be used. Well, Ivan was occupying one currently, and his guardians shared another, but I somehow doubted those rooms would see another occupant before this very-mini-mansion was sold and we downsized again. That next move was one I didn't doubt Rose would react even more adversely to. Unless of course she adjusted to this change first.

We returned to St Vladimir's Academy by a run of normal planes. The reasoning behind that decision was that timing and changeovers worked such that Rose and I could farewell Ivan as he left on a flight to where he was going to college. In Germany. Why he'd chosen there I will never understand, but he had and that was that.

RPOV  
The week after classes started for semester two I had Casper begging me for a second chance. He promised to court me as properly as possible within the confines of St Vladimir's wards. He swore he wouldn't let his Moroi friends cloud his judgement again.

I considered doing it. I wanted to. I wanted to be a normal teenager so badly it wasn't funny, so badly it hurt. But there was a voice in the back of my head warning me of the reputation I could get. I could either be seen as an easy slut- a blood whore- or as a ruthless and unforgiving dangerous girl guardian in training. I was already seen as the second one and I wanted to keep that image in place. I wanted to be a teenager, and yet I wanted to be a guardian... No. I **_am_** a guardian and _they come first._

And there was no one I wanted to guard more than my new best friend, Vasilisa Dragomir- or Lissa, as she prefers. She was the youngest of the remaining Dragomirs and we all knew when the time came she and her big brother, André, would only have the best guardians assigned to them. I was determined to be that guardian, the one seen as one of the all-time bests and worthy of having her as my charge.

With all that in mind, I rejected my old Academy best friend's big brother. "No, Casper. I broke it off with you in the first place for a reason. I don't trust you anymore. I won't be seen as a foolish and easy dhampir girl. I'm a guardian- Lissa's guardian. _No._ "  
"I'm not a Moroi, Rosie..."  
"But your douche-bag friends are, and they'll talk. No **_means_** no. They come first."  
His desperate eyes bore into mine beseechingly. "I still love you, Rose."  
"No, you don't. I caught up with Jude over winter break. You have a new girlfriend, Casper Talezur, so don't even _think_ of trying to pull the wool over my eyes. Besides, I don't love you- I haven't loved you since you started listening to that Aidan Zeklos _ass_!" With that an accompanying slap to his left cheek I turned around and started towards my middle years classroom.

This semester the classes worked in the fashion of split Moroi/ dhampir classes in the morning and combined classes in the afternoon. Why they changed it I don't know. Though I must admit it made ignoring and avoiding Casper easier, and I didn't get distracted in my combined classes by planning how I was going to put up with him that afternoon. Plus, Lissa's perky and innocent ways made me look forward to my afternoon classes. As did Mason and Eddie's unstoppable ability to make me laugh and lighten my mood.

"You're going to give yourself a bad name if you keep hitting people, Rose. Especially ex-boyfriends."

 _What was with the never-ending zen life lessons!_ I was **_sick_** of them, especially the ones about boys. Honestly, could Dimitri **_not_** get a life? When would he stop trying to run mine?

"Oh! So **_now_** you want me to date? _Now_ you want me to be a teen? It's not like Casper is a Moroi. And let's not forget, I already **_have_** a name for being dangerous and unforgiving!"

Why were we _always_ fighting at the moment? Why did it seem that was the _only_ thing we did? I hated verbally fighting with Dimitri, my Dimi, because it left me more than just simply exhausted. Fighting with him like this never stopped causing that pain in my chest. Dimitri was my best friend that travelled the world with and for me, even though he was older than me we really were close, so close I still felt he was like my big brother. The experiences we'd been through together allowed for nothing less. But all this recent fighting was creating a distance between us that I couldn't stand, one that I could almost physically feel.

I wished Dad had **_never_** moved me to this Academy! If he hadn't made me transfer to the States then Dimitri and I wouldn't be fighting like this. Dimi was supposed to stop me from feeling alone, except now I felt more alone than ever, even with Lissa, Mason and Eddie. I felt like I was losing a connection to home.

"I'm trying to look out for your future, Rose. Now, warm up. Eighty lines and twenty laps. Double the reps on everything and add five pounds on the machines." His face was set into a blank mask and his voice was almost cold with its harsh professionalism.  
"Fine," I huffed and set to it.

He wanted to be detached from me then I could play that game too. I stayed dangerously silent, ignoring him as he read one of the Westerns I knew so well. When he let me know our two hours were up I didn't respond and stalked out the door.

 ** _Boys!_** Honestly they are annoying the heck out of me currently. Why was it so hard to get along with them and understand the way they think?

DPOV  
 _Now what had I done?_ Rose had ignored me all training after our fight and completely disregarded me as she stalked out the door of the Senior gym. Did she not understand I was trying to protect her because I love her? Did she not see I was trying to guide her because I cared about her and her future?

 _Obviously not._ Because for the next fortnight the silent treatment continued. I knew I should be the bigger person and apologize, but I wasn't about to take back the harsh truth. It wasn't something in my power or under my control. Sure, I could have and should have delivered the message differently but she was Rose, **_my_** Rose, and the only way to get through to her at the moment was by tough love.


	9. Finding the home for my heart

DPOV  
 _I wished Ivan was here._ It was going on the fourth week of nothing but painful professionalism between me and Rose, and I _hated_ it. I had to stand guard in all her classes and follow her around at lunch time. Every play time she went to the senior gym and I had to watch as she pummelled my dummy look-alike while cursing my name in Russian, Turkish, and English. She kept at it day in, day out and seemed oblivious to my presence.

In class and at lunch, she sat with the Ashford and Castile boys that I was certain were crushing on her. As she flirted up a storm with them, I was left to silently watch and hear. She changed up how she wore her new clothes so black sports bras showed under light-colored tops. Her jeans slipped lower on her hips and her shirts started to ride. _Was she seriously falling into dhampir girl stereotypes just to spite me?_ It sure as hell felt like it.

Rose started being tardy to trainings. Morning and afternoon sessions. She arrived later and later. Then she started leaving early without being dismissed. I had just known she'd turn into this rebellious teenager. And it killed a part of me to think that it was my fault. I'd pushed just that little bit too much. The guilt-inducing irony ate at me non-stop. In trying to protect her and prevent her becoming this stubborn wild-child I had inadvertently made her act the way she currently did.

I _longed_ to be the reason she smiled. I _ached_ to once more be the one she came to for comfort. I _wished_ to be her confidant again. I had taken it for granted that she would always come running to me, that I was the one she would always need and want help, support, and guidance from.

The saying _'you don't know what you've got until it's gone'_ had never before in my life felt truer than it did now. Rose was a part of me, and with her constant snubbing I was feeling more and more... _alone_. I felt as though a part of my soul was missing and only her smile, her acknowledgement would fill the aching, bleeding, cutting void in my heart and soul. She was my everything and yet she was acting as if I meant _nothing_ to her... and a part of me was immensely pained by the thought that _maybe, just maybe,_ ** _nothing_** _was_ ** _exactly_** _what I'd come to mean to her._

RPOV  
"Ivan!" I squealed when I saw him in Kirova's office. She'd told me Dad had sent me a birthday gift but I hadn't suspected him.  
"Hey Roza," he chuckled and pulled me into a hug. "You've grown, birthday girl."  
I swear I saw Dimitri glare at his best friend and growl at him to. _Whatever._  
"I have!" I nodded into his ribs. "It's been over a month, you freak."

He laughed and it rumbled in my ear.  
It was an odd feeling but a nice one, one I'd never felt before but one I enjoyed. I'd missed him. Especially since Dimitri and I were still fighting.

"You've grown more than should be possible in six weeks, Rose."  
I smiled up at him. "How do you know? I'm technically a year older than the last time you saw me."  
He grinned and ran a hand through my hair. "You're a monster, you know that, don't you Mazur?"  
I smirked and nodded. "Of course, Ivan, you idiot!" I teased.  
"Language, Miss Mazur. Please show Lord Zeklos to his guest room." I'm sure the hawk just loved being polite with me. Note the _drip-drip-drip_ of heavy sarcasm.

Ivan'sPOV  
I ignored the regular glares Dimitri was shooting at me and Rose and just enjoyed her party.

It didn't take me long to realise why exactly zmey had pulled strings to get me here. Rose was heading down the self-destruct path while Dimitri was so pissed and tense, so hypersensitive that he was going to implode before long. I needed to talk to him and her before they did things they'd forever regret. The hadn't stopped fighting since Christmas and something was bound to go wrong sometime soon if I didn't step in. _Right. Now._

"Talk to me, Dimitri," I demanded once I'd trapped him in the nearest mall- Missoula. "What's going wrong between you and Roza? And don't say 'nothing', I know something's wrong. What is it? I love her too, and I hate seeing the two of you like this."  
His jaw tensed before he sighed in resignation and frustration. "She says I'm trying to control her. Ivan, I'm trying to guide her and she's taking it all wrong!"  
"She's trying to discover herself and her role as a young teenage girl, Dimka. You and I might know what our roles in the world are but she's just starting that learning process. You need to let her explore and find out for herself who she is. She'll come back to you when she's ready. You just have to have patience. She can look after herself- you know she can. You've made sure she can."  
Dimitri frowned. He knew I was right. He knew I was right and he didn't like having to accept that. "I just worry about her, that's all. I know she understands the consequences of what she's doing and it absolutely, completely infuriates me that she's doing it anyway."  
I took a moment to decipher his tone. Then it hit me and I couldn't help laughing. "Oh Dimka! You're jealous. Again. You're still so jealous, and possessive of her." I punched him lightly. "You're an idiot. You do know that, right. If she didn't love you she wouldn't be just just as infuriated with you are you are with her, she wouldn't be so sensitive and avoiding you. She's waiting for you to cave, man."

I'd spoken with Rose about it here and there over the past week, slowly I'd gathered and put together her side of the story. She may not recognise her true feelings but I had seen and heard all the indicators. She loved him. A lot. That was why this distance and angst between them was hurting her so much. She might still only love him as if he was a big brother, but she did love him and this fighting was hurting her. She wanted her superhero to fight for her. She didn't want to turn him into the villain. She didn't like hurting him... that's if he was hurt. Her words, not mine. Her uncertainty, not mine. I knew he was hurting too. But his was self-inflicted. More or less.

"I can't cave, Ivan." Dimitri pulled on his hair in a rare show of frustration.  
"Of course you can, you fool. We'll sic Abe and his hounds on you if you don't come to your senses soon."  
"She's my charge and my student, Ivan. She has to learn."  
I groaned and pulled him into the lingerie department. "Look around you, Dimitri Belikov. Who do you see in this stuff? Huh?"  
"Her. An older her... but her. Only her," he responded shakily. His shock and fear radiated from his eyes. "What's wrong with me, Ivan?"  
"Nothing. You only want to see her in this? Well, I know she only ever wants you to see her in it. But she's not scared to make you think otherwise. She doesn't understand why, yet, but she doesn't feel like she's getting anything out of the flirting she does with the other boys. She can't identify it yet, Dimitri, but you've already claimed her heart that she'll wait for you to claim her body. But she is a Mazur, so she's not going to 'give you the pleasure' of seeing her put her teenage years on hold for you. The day will come, though, when you two will be in and out of this department for the rest of your- highly likely, dare I say married- life. You just have to wait."

Dimitri's expression when I suggested he would marry Rose Mazur was absolutely priceless. I don't think it would ever be possible for anyone to both pale in shock and fear of her and her parents while also blushing so furiously at the thought of being the only one to ever properly 'sleep' with her. She may barely be thirteen and innocent now, but she wasn't going to stay that way. And Dimitri recognised the responsibility he had to take for her, the value he had to place in their connection I was trying to convey to him. _Finally._ Something was resonating in that head of his. They really were made for each other. You could tell that much just by their mutual stubbornness. One day I'd be his best man and she'd be his bride. _One day_. And that would be the day he'd realise and embrace how truly wrong the guardian mantra is. That would be the day when she freed him from Moroi bindings for life.

RPOV  
Ivan came home with us to Turkey for Easter. We were watching _Hop_ in his room when he suddenly told me of Dad's latest plan. Dimitri and I were talking to each other again... but we were barely being civil. Unlike Ivan and I- we were closer than ever. And I was liking it. _Lots_. Ivan never fought with me. He just accepted my opinions as was and changed the topic or let me change it when we were on the verge of fighting. He was so like me it wasn't funny.

"So yeah, you might wanna eat all that chocolate before it gets thrown away when we pack up the fridge. Or I could just eat instead," he threatened with a laugh.  
I threw a handful of my popcorn at him. "You wouldn't dare!" I gasped in fake shock and offence before laughing.  
"I would!" he returned the favour of showering me in his popcorn. "Don't want to waste that food and money. Do you?"  
"Of course not! Ivan, how could you suggest I would?"  
We collapsed into laughter. Before I knew I had rolled into his arms and was straddling him... on his bed... in his room... without anyone else around... especially without Dimitri around... and my breathing was become a tough task. Ivan's blue eyes shone while looking into mine. His breathing was laboured like mine. His lips looked as desperate to kiss mine as mine felt like they looked desperate to kiss his. Before I could think twice, before I could consider the consequences, I lowered my lips to his.

 _Oh my god!_ I moaned when he kissed me back. It was bliss! He was a much better kisser than Casper. He was a much better kisser than his distant little cousin, Jesse. His lips were soft and tender, tentative in the way they returned my kiss.  
"We..." he gasped, "can't. _Roza..._ You're my best friend's charge... We can't..." I heard the pain and regret in his voice.  
"I want to forget Dimitri, Ivan. Make me forget!" I pleaded quietly in his ear before kissing behind it. "I want you. I need you to kiss me again." I kissed down his neck. I didn't care about how wrong this was. All I cared about was keeping my lips locked with his. I didn't care I was barely thirteen and he was eighteen. I certainly didn't care that he was Dimitri's best friend. Dimitri could still go burn in hell due to the way he hurt me for all I cared right now.  
There wasn't any debate in his eyes when he looked back into mine. He flipped us... and I got the strangest but best tightening feeling and wetness between my legs when he pressed himself against me and sent me such an adoring look. My heart raced. "You're gorgeous, Roza. You've got to know that, sweetheart. _This_ ," he rubbed his tenting pants against my groin, "is what you do to me. It's insane what you do to the boys around you, but it's more insane what you do to _me._ Roza... you're so gorgeous you're heavenly."

His lips came back to mine. Oh god. _How did anyone stand this feeling?_ I wanted to kiss him everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. I wanted him to touch me. All of me. I wanted to touch him. All of him. I wanted him to kiss me. Absolutely all over me. This was insane. My eyes flew open at the sound of a gasp. Blue eyes and pale skin met my gaze. _Ivan? Was I really making out with Ivan? I had been so sure... so sure it was..._

"Not my Rose, you _ass_!" screeched Dimitri as he stormed in the room and threw his friend halfway across the room, nearly into the TV.  
"He's your _friend_ , Dimi!" I cried. "You couldn't hurt your best friend, could you? You couldn't hurt a Moroi, could you, Dimi?"  
He ignored my pleas and lunged at Ivan. "Hear that, Ivan Zeklos? Hear her? Hear her innocence? How _dare_ you take advantage of my charge! How _dare_ you take advantage of _my_ girl, Zeklos! It wouldn't be the first time I've made the likes of you pay!"

I shuffled back into headboard and clutched one of Ivan's pillows to me. I had only ever seen Dimitri this furious once before. He was ready to kill Ivan because of what I'd stupidly started. And it scared me. **_HE_** scared me. Dimitri, _my_ Dimi was scaring me.

"Dimi..." I pleaded softly. " _Please_ , don't hurt him," I whimpered. I was freaking Rose Mazur, I did **_not_** whimper. Strong girls didn't whimper and I was a badass guardian in training. Whimpering just _didn't_ cut it, it just simply was _not_ cool. "If you want to blame someone, blame me. I started it."  
"I don't care who started it, Roza Mazur," my heart skipped a beat when he used that tone while saying my first name in Russian. _What the hell?_ "He's the adult, he should know better."  
Ivan scoffed. "Like you're any better, Dimka. You're the one in the middle of a lover's quarrel with your teenage charge. Who, by the way, is cowering because she's scared of you. Are you really better than him? Better than Randal? Right now, take a close look at your Rose, because right now she's making you look as bad as Randall."

Slowly, Dimitri turned around and his eyes found me. The fury in them instantly changed to guilt, apology and remorse. All the tension left his body and he released his friend. "Oh... Roza... Oh, my Roza..." he murmured in agony. "I'm sorry!" he apologised with regret and fear swimming in his eyes and thickened accent. "I'm so sorry, baby girl." I wanted to make that pained, grief-filled look and heartache-filled tone go away. I **_needed_** to make it go away. I couldn't stand the pain he was in... it was as if I could feel it. It was as if his pain was mine.  
My arms opened for him.  
"Shhh... settle, Dimi. I'm sorry. I started this. I should've just listened to you. I'm sorry. I've missed you. I forgive you..." I took a deep breath before uttering the words that would forever change my relationship with Dimitri. "I love you too much to hold anything against you for ever."  
Dimitri fell into my arms. "I love you too, Rose. I love you too much to let you do anything stupid. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I took my jealousy and insecurity out on you. I'm so sorry. I love you, Roza. I love you so much I'm too overprotective of you."  
I burrowed into his chest. The smell of leather and sweat and aftershave enveloped me. _Him. Home. Safety._ His smell was the smell of my home and my safety. I couldn't give a damn where Dad shifted us, I wouldn't care if Mom and Dad handed me over to St Vlad's... as long as Dimitri was with me. He was my my protector and my superhero, after all. If I only had to have one guardian, then it would be Dimitri, **_MY_** Dimitri, _always my Dimi._

DPOV  
She fit there. She was made for my arms. It was the only way to explain why I felt complete and elated with her back there. She was mine to protect, mine to love, mine to adore.

"If you're done putting Rose to sleep on my bed, Belikov, I'd like to clean up her mess."  
I growled at the potential double entendre. "Zeklos!"  
"Whoa! Man, settle." Ivan threw his hands up in a sign of truce. "I meant the popcorn. I'd never deflower your girl, your Rose."  
"You want to," I spat while standing with Rose in my arms. "You _want_ to sleep with her."  
"Don't deny it, she's _bloody hot_. She's gorgeous and sexy."  
I shook my head in disgust. "She's _beautiful_ , Ivan. She's so fierce and so innocent she's so beautiful it hurts. She's so incredibly beautiful and innocent and I wouldn't have her any other way." I strode out of Ivan's room before he could respond.

I still couldn't believe what I'd seen. _How could they? Rose and Ivan?_ The part of me that knew she deserved the life I could never give her betrayed me, led me to believe she could be better off with my best friend. He was a respectable and respected royal. He had connections I didn't. He could keep her in the highest rungs of Moroi royalty, he could make her the politician she should be instead of the politician's guardian. He could ensure she always retained her Mazur power. _Me?_ All I could do was train her to survive the future and postpone the sacrifice of her life for an ungrateful other she was condemned to. I had never felt as insecure as I did around and about _her_ , around and about Rose Mazur, my charge and my love.


	10. Boys!

RPOV  
Ivan didn't return to St Vlad's with us. It was hard to say goodbye to him again, but I did what I had to. Dimitri and I were back to spending nearly every spare moment together. Dad had been giving us looks of relief and something else... indulgence, maybe? Maybe worry? I didn't know what he had to be worried about, it wasn't like he knew I could possibly crushing on my newest, youngest, Older guardian. I had to be out of my mind loving Dimitri, but I couldn't help it. He had saved me multiple times in various ways. Besides, he was just... Dimitri. What wasn't there to love about my Dimitri, my superhero? Well... I could think of one thing about him that I didn't like. He followed rules and laws rigidly and wouldn't start a relationship with me until after my eighteenth birthday because it.

He wouldn't kiss me. He wouldn't touch me. _And goddamn it, I_ ** _hated_** _it!_ For at least a month now I wanted to know what it was like to have his lips against mine, even in a chaste kiss! I wanted to be folded in his warm arms again, I wanted that feeling of belonging back. I wanted to know what it was like to have dirty things whispered in my ear in a his very heavy Russian accent. Yeah, I had to be out of my mind lusting for him. Just because he'd admitted to loving me didn't strictly mean I... excited him in the physical way I had excited Ivan. Then again, I'd also been out of my mind kissing him, making out with him. Just because I dreamed of Things happening between me and Dimitri didn't mean he did too. All of this messed up, confusing love and desire I felt for my guardian and mentor made training that much harder. I didn't know if I preferred knowing he loved me but not knowing if he desired me over the distance and fighting. I'd found one level of peace... only to discover a new ache. Sometimes I couldn't help wondering if his love for me was purely familial. Some days, usually after a hot Dimitri-dream and professional-mentor real Dimitri in morning trainings, I caught myself questioning if he really loved me or was just using it as an excuse to do be stricter on me, to control me again. I wasn't going to let him do that, not to Rose Mazur.

"You know what André said to me over break?" Lissa started happily at lunch. We'd been back for a month but with her big brother always finding a reason to talk to me she seemed determined to gossip about an incident over the holidays she hadn't previously.  
"What?" I failed to do Dimitri's cool one-eyebrow trick.  
She smiled and whispered in my ear. "He said he liked you and wished you were spending holidays with us."  
I gasped. "You mean like, or _like_?" He was only four years older than me and he'd been nothing but nice to me since I'd arrived, and especially this term just started.  
" _Like_ , as in he _really_ likes you, Rose."  
I pursed my lips in thought. "He _is_ cute," I conceded. No one could ever be as hot as Dimitri, though. It was just impossible. "And he is very, very nice. But Liss, he's your _brother_ and a _sophomore_."  
"He's happier around you," she argued evenly, "and you went out with Casper, didn't you? For now the age gap's the same. Please," she pleaded, " _pretty please_ Rose, give him a shot? Besides, Mom and Dad were already planning on convincing your dad to let you spend all summer with us. Please Rose?"  
I couldn't resist that face she pulled so I sighed in resignation. "Okay." I couldn't believe I'd just agreed to date my best friend's brother, the future Prince Dragomir. I was going to hear about this from Dimitri in training this afternoon.  
"Yay!"  
Mason and Eddie were also sitting with us and neither looked too happy about the set up. Regardless, they said nothing about it.

"What are you _thinking_ , Rose? _André Dragomir_? Do you _realise_ where this is going to send your _reputation_?"  
I scowled at Dimitri while stretching. "I don't see how my dating life is any of your business."  
"Rose," groaned Dimitri, "I'm trying to protect you. _Rose Mazur_ does not need to be a name synonymous with the word _easy_. Your father told me over the holidays he's thinking of reducing the number of guards you have because some of your enemies no longer see you as a threat."  
"I'm not _easy_ , Dimitri-"  
"Yeah, sure," he scoffed. "I found you making out with my best friend now your planning on making out with your best friend's big brother."  
I stood straight up and strode over to him, getting up in his space in an intimidating way I'd not done before, a way I'd seen Dad do a lot to his enemies. " _How dare you, Dimi_ ," I said in a cold, dangerous voice I didn't know I was capable of. I was shaking in fury... and heartbreak. "I thought you loved me. I thought you at least cared about me enough to never think those kinds of things about me, enough to let me find my own way in life and love."  
Dimitri looked like I had hurt him more than if I'd punched him with all I had. He looked agonised. "You think I lied about loving you?" he whispered.  
"It certainly _feels_ that way."  
"Roza, you're my world. How could you possibly believe you're not?" The pain and honesty in his eyes hurt me, cut me to my very essence.  
"Because you don't show it."  
"I can't, Roza. We've been through this before."  
"You can't? Or you _won't_?"  
Dimitri pulled a hand through his hair. "Can't, Rose."  
"I don't believe you. And until you change my mind I'll see whoever I like and if you bug me about it again me ignoring you will be the _least_ of your concerns." I stalked out of the gym and headed towards the track. I needed to run out my overreactive emotions. I could never hate my Dimi, but I was currently very close to it. I was absolutely pissed at him.

"Hey Rosie, what's got your panties in a twist," called André. Right now his voice and find nickname for me was a welcome balm. I stopped my running to jog over to my best friend's cute big brother.  
"Hey Andy," I greeted sweetly.  
André groaned in mock annoyance. His green eyes glimmered with amusement and affection. Then he pulled out a smile that could woo the entire senior campus female population. It had an affect on me, drew me to him. It had done so all month. I craved the attention, I realised. I craved the affection of the opposite sex, of this big boy in particular, since Dimitri had been treating me as if he had never said the L word.  
I impulsively pulled André into a hug. I needed contact with someone who cared for me.  
His arms wrapped around me. "What's _this_ about?" he asked teasingly.  
"Liss told me what you told her on the holidays, about liking me. Well, I told her I like you too," _more or less._  
André pulled back a little only to tip my chin up. "Rose Mazur, did you just say you liked me?"  
I nodded, entranced by his green eyes. Brown was my favourite eye color, but right now I didn't like the guardian those eyes belonged to. I wanted to live my own life and those green eyes were my present. "Yup. I, Rose Mazur, like you, André Dragomir."  
He smiled without showing his fangs. "Well then, Rosie, would you please accompany me to Jason Badica's party tomorrow night?"  
I grinned. "Of course, Andy."  
"Well then, Rosie, I'll come find you-"  
" ** _Rosemarie Mazur_** _!_ " a Russian voice boomed, ruining the moment. André's lips had been hovering over mine, just about to come down and touch mine. Oh shit. "André Dragomir, I suggest you keep your lips and hands _off_ my charge and student." Dimitri turned his disapproving and stern self on me. " _You_ ," he nearly growled, "are supposed to be training. _Not_ kissing your best friend's _older_ brother."  
"Guardian Belikov, what Rose does and who she kisses is none of your business." André still had his arms wrapped around me, pointedly.  
"It is when it interrupts her training. Now, Rose get inside and start on the machines."  
I glared at him. " ** _No_**." I looked up at André, "Shall we go see Lissa?"  
He nodded with a smile. "Later, Guardian Belikov."  
"I'll see you later, Guardian Belikov."  
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed him flinch. I couldn't bring myself to give a damn. He'd overstepped the new line I'd drawn.  
"He's possessive of you, Rosie."  
I sighed. "Tell me about it."


	11. Summer without her

DPOV  
Every time I saw Rose and André together I hoped it was the _last_ time I saw them as a controversial couple. It was _agony_ to watch her smile and laugh, flirt and kiss. He was a sophomore who knew how to work a crowd and Rose was learning how to fit in with his group. If any of them had plots against her she was winning them over and gaining their friendship and allegiance. He _adored_ her. His eyes lit up around her, at the mention of her name. And I could not stand it. He was wooing her. I had no doubt about that.

Abe rang me a week before the Academy was due to let out for summer. What I heard shocked me.  
"Belikov, Rose is spending summer with the Dragomirs and she's requested only Helen go with her. You and Kalle are staying at the Academy while Anton will be coming to Turkey to help me move again."

After we hung up I realised that _this_ was my punishment. She wasn't just simply _furious_ with me for trying to protect her best interests, she was losing her trust in me... or at least, she was determined to make it appear that way. By leaving Kalle, Anton and me behind she was sending me one very pointed and very powerful message. She didn't need me to look after her because she was determined to look after herself. It cut. It ripped a piece of my soul from me. She had become my life, and she didn't give a damn.

"We warned you, Belikov," Anton commented at lunch the second day of summer break. I had no clue where the Dragomirs were taking my Roza. I was clueless as to what she was doing. I was blind as to what she and André were getting up to. I hoped beyond all hope they wouldn't have a summer romance, a holiday fling. I hoped Rose would spend more time around Lissa than Andre. I hoped Eric and Rhea would put an end to them, tell André to have some class and get a girlfriend his own age that was a royal Moroi that could expand the Dragomir line.  
"We warned you she would stab you in the back," Kalle agreed.  
I held back a scowl. "She's just being a young teenager."  
They laughed. "It's not like your own nineteenth is just around the corner, Belikov."  
"I've learned my lessons. Right now she doesn't seem to care about her future. **_At. All_** _,_ " I bit out.  
"Is she worth it? She's already wearing you out. Is she still worth it? Can you still take all she can throw at you?"  
"She'll _always_ be worth it." That was not something that could be easily changed. Not when I loved her more deeply than I should love a thirteen year old novice, let alone one that was also my charge. I had a duty of care to uphold and keep in tact with her, and she expected me to throw it away and pretend the laws and morals didn't exist for a reason.

It wasn't my place to give into the desire to keep touching her, holding her, the desire to kiss her. _By_ ** _god_** _!_ I wanted to kiss her. So badly. I wanted to hold her and kiss her so badly it hurt. I wanted to do things no eighteen year old should want to do with a thirteen year old. My control was already tested enough when we were on good terms, but when we weren't I needed all the more control. The more she pushed away the more desperately I wanted to do things and say things to make her understand my love for her.

"But can you survive what she's throwing at you?" _If only Kalle knew the extent of my punishment._  
I sighed. She really was testing me, but she was worth it. She _had_ to be worth it. So I _had_ to be able to survive her punishments. "Yes."  
The other two shook their heads. "I don't know how you can do it."

Time dragged by. I spent many hours working ward shifts or guarding the extra summer classes. Worry gnawed at me. No matter how many shifts I worked or how many hours I worked in the gym none of it distracted me from the worry of what she was up to and the ache of separation from her. _Was this pain what I was doomed to always suffer whenever she was out of my reach, literally not figuratively?_ Because if it was I wasn't sure I could live. In less than a year, Rose Mazur had worked her way into my soul and I felt incomplete without her, unable to breathe not knowing how she was. Even having her around but hating my guts was better than _this_. This was out of my control, way out of it.

I thanked god when Ivan arrived for the last three weeks of break. I still didn't like how he'd gotten so physically close to Rose, so sexually close to her, made out with her. But right now I _needed_ my best friend even if I held a level of animosity towards him.

"Hey Ivan," I greeted with a level of happiness and relief that took me by surprise.  
"Hey Dimitri. How are you and Rose?" he asked while I walked into the guardian lounge with him in tow.  
"Don't ask. She's got it in her head that it's perfectly _fine_ to be with her best friend's _big brother_."  
Ivan, to my dismay, shook his head and laughed. "Dimka, you _need_ to relax when it comes to Rose. She's barely thirteen, give her a break."  
" ** _I. Can't._** Society won't let her live down her actions between now and graduation. She's got to learn to take responsibility for her reputation."  
He laughed again while grabbing some of the food on offer. "You're lying. Besides, it's André Dragomir. He's going to realise soon enough that she's only a little sister to him."  
I scoffed and grabbed one of the ham sandwiches from the fridge. "You haven't seen the way he looks at her. He's completely besotted. He _adores_ her. Not to mention the scathing way he looks at me. He's got a grudge against me. He's _determined_ to keep her as happy as possible and as far away from me as possible. He collects her from training when she's barely gotten started on the dummies." It was pissing me off to say the least.  
"You have to let him look after her, Dimka. You want her happy, don't you?"  
"Always. Happy and safe."  
"Then let André take care of her. Let them be."  
I didn't know if that was **_ever_** going to be possible.


	12. Year 2 Starts

RPOV  
"We like you, Rose," said Rhea with a warm smile, "welcome to the family." She brought me into a hug.  
I was stunned. Sure, they'd taken me in for the summer, but I hadn't thought they'd accept me as one of their own. It was a welcome surprise. As was the hug, so I returned it. "Thank you, Mrs Dragomir." Technically it should have been _Lady_ Dragomir, but André had spent the last fortnight of classes training me away from the royal titles for his parents.  
"Rhea or Mom, please, Rose." She let me go just in time to let Eric embrace me.  
"You're going to make one kick-ass guardian, Rose. We'd be delighted if you'd one day become Lissa's _or_ André's." _Cue more shock and surprise._  
"I'd be honoured, Your Highness."  
Eric stepped back and narrowed his eyes at me. "Rose, if my wife wants you to use her first name then so do I. Or _Dad_."  
I laughed. "Okay. Thank you, Eric."  
He and Rhea smiled and laughed. "We enjoyed you spending summer with us, Rose. And thank you for making André happy in a way we haven't seen lately."  
"We would say don't get too attached to him, Rose, because one day he'll need a Moroi heir or two."  
"But?"  
They smiled and shook their heads. "He's still a kid and there's plenty of time before he'll _want_ and need to settle down."  
I smiled my agreement. I nodded.

I knew where my heart always would be, and André and I had discussed this. Sort of. All because I'd caught him kissing another girl at a party we'd been to in the first week of holidays. Sure, it had stung to find him cheating on me, but I wasn't as pissed as I had been with Casper trying to two-time with me as the second girl. I _almost_ felt bad for the redhead he'd been kissing. After that, we'd decided we'd still be exclusive but we'd let it go if we kissed others at parties. If it went any further than kissing and headed towards making out... _that_ was when the proverbial shit would hit the fan. That's when _we_ would end. Neither of us wanted people treating us like possessions and pawns... and he wanted to stay in Lissa's good books by not hurting me. I was fine with that.

André walked me to my dorm after we'd finished farewelling his parents for another term. It had already been organised with Dad that I'd spend next break with the Dragomirs.  
"Thank you, milady for an amazing summer." André took my hand and bowed down to kiss it. I smiled and giggled. I was getting too old for giggling, giggling at thirteen was _not_ cool. Nor was blushing. Yet I did it.  
"No, thank _you_ , Andy."  
He stood straight up and pulled my close. He slowly tipped my chin up and brought his lips down to mine.  
"Male students aren't allowed in the female dorms," a Russian voice interrupted. _Really? Did he learn_ ** _nothing_** _over summer?_  
I groaned against André's lips. "Perfect." I spun to face Dimitri: " ** _Not. True_** ," I spat. "Boys _are_ allowed in the girls' dorms, just not in their _room_."  
"They're not allowed in the corridors, either," Dimi argued sternly. If André was scared he didn't show it. He kept ahold of my waist.  
"I was just dropping her off, Guardian Belikov," André tried to diffuse the mounting tension before it became a fist fight or yelling match. He didn't like Dimitri, but that didn't mean he didn't respect him as a formidable guardian. "She's all yours." _That could be taken in an entirely different way._

Classes started two days later. My trainings with Dimitri restarted the day I returned. And I was surprised to learn from Ms Karp- my new Moroi/novice class teacher- that my morning novice classes were with the sophomore novices, and my last period math class would be with the freshman. And Lissa would be joining me. **_Thank god._**

Slowly, Lissa and I adjusted to the freshman level math. I fell back into the routine of the senior-campus novice classes. Dimitri continued his silence regarding his opinions of André. His silence was almost a comment of its own. Especially given he liked to break us apart at any time. And he especially now loved to do it when André was about to kiss me before and after training. If he expected us to keep jumping at the unwelcome interruption he wasn't go to get the satisfaction. He _didn't_ get the satisfaction from us.

Then came the day... André and I were supposed to be having lunch together. I was kept back after fourth period by Emil and Dimitri, to discuss maybe putting me into Junior combat prac classes. Once I'd loaded my tray with food I exited the lunch line to find where André had chosen to sit. My eyes homed in on him. He was standing against the far wall. Only his back was to the population. He was kissing a girl so seriously he was about to rip her shirt off. A pang of desire and longing shot through me. I wanted to be that girl, but instead of André's body and lips holding me up, I wanted it to be Dimitri's. _Damn._ I really **_couldn't_** let go of this lusting over my guardian and mentor. When the lust had subsided the reality hit. And it hurt more than I had expected it to. This was him two-timing me in front of me. We both knew we both had a wild side and a desire to explore and experiment... but this was, for us, true betrayal. He was practically having _sex_ with her in front of _everyone_. I was torn over what to do. A voice in my head that sounded too Russian for my liking told me to walk right up to him, end it, threaten him, and walk away with my dignity in tact and without the black mark for hurting a Moroi. Then there was also a part of me that wanted to just sit down and eat and make him pay later... I loved my food nearly as much as I loved Dimitri and I was _starving_. Either I played the good submissive guardian and ignored it, sat down and ate or I earned the typical blood whore comments for the same actions. _Or_ I could go with being the strong dhampir girl who didn't let Moroi boys walk all over her but then simultaneously be seen as an insubordinate, dangerous novice. That Russian accent again warned about reputations. _Better to be seen as an upstart novice than a promising blood whore._ If I wanted society to change then I had to call André out. The future Dragomir Prince or not.

I walked up to the classless 'love birds' and pulled André away from her the shoved him to the side.  
" _He's mine_ ," I growled before punching her. A surprisingly satisfying crunch resounded. Blood poured from her nose. She was too distracted to respond so I stalked over to André. "She's not so screwable now, is she?" I warned in a voice that was surprisingly cold. "I just _knew_ you'd be the first one to break our agreement. So guess what? We're over. Got it? _We. Are._ ** _Over!_** " I kneed him in his golden spot, not even caring if it meant he couldn't carry on the Dragomir line. I think Liss already stood a better chance at creating legitimate heirs. I strode past the girl. "He's all yours... you social climbing whore."

"Did you _really_ knee my brother you know where?" asked Liss after math that afternoon. We'd been back nearly five weeks now and summer was starting to give way to fall with the temperature dropping about a degree or two, three at most, and the leaves were starting to go orange and brown at the tip.  
"Hey cheated, Lissa. Like nearly had sex with this girl in the cafeteria. Can you really blame me?"  
"He _wouldn't_?" Her expression reminded me of how she worshiped her brother like he was a saint.  
"He _did_. Just because he's a big boy who likes his big boy toys and I wasn't being one."  
"Ew! Don't need to know about my brother's sex life!"  
I smirked. "I never said I was talking about _his_."  
"Hang on- have _you_?"  
I scoffed and shook my head. "No. If I wasn't _with_ André then I certainly haven't. I want to wait," _until Dimitri pulls his head out of his own ass._ I just don't want him to have the satisfaction of knowing I'm waiting. In that case he may just put his head further up his own ass simply to spite me.

"You could have landed yourself in detention if it weren't for these trainings, Rose."  
I glared at Dimitri. "Thanks and _Hi_ to you too."  
"Roza," sighed Dimitri. I could tell from the set of his jaw he was frustrated. But his eyes shone with exhaustion. The same exhaustion I was feeling. It took so much more out of me when ever there was antagonism between me and Dimi. You'd think by now I'd have learned to stop ignoring him or punishing him whenever he said something against me or my choices. But I was Rose Mazur and Rose Mazur never let anyone control her or insult her. Rose Mazur never let anyone hurt her. Not after Casper Talezur and Aidan Zeklos.  
"Don't. Say. A. Word. Dimitri." After that, the only words he spoke were ones of instruction. _I didn't know how to feel about that._ I didn't like him interfering with my life, but I missed that connection with him too. I missed laughing and crying with him, but I didn't want him being my crutch, either. I wanted that easygoing Dimi and Rose back. I wanted us to return to the way we were _before_ lust joined the chaos that defined my life.

DPOV  
It was finally over. With no tears on Rose's side, to my surprise. Rose, my Rose, had come to her senses and dumped that André Dragomir's ass. 'The bitch is back,' was the phrase students and staff were using in relation to Rose's method of break. Many Moroi were questioning her suitability to become a guardian, but they were the same ones who were scared she'd become an activist or businessperson like her father. Especially considering the whispers of approval of the young dhampir girl standing up for herself that crept along the walls of the corridors and snuck around corners.

Rose and I returned to our friendly banter and I turned a blind eye towards her flirting with Mason and Eddie again. It wasn't an easy thing up do, but I was learning that there was a different quality to their flirting. For Rose at least the flirting seemed to happen just for the sake of flirting. As more time passed and Rose reattached herself primarily to me, the less hard it became to watch her flirt with those two.

For now, it seemed she was settling for friendship with, well, _all_ the boys she could get to be her friend. What worried me just a tiny bit- okay, it actually worried me a lot- was that she wasn't swearing about boys or swearing off boyfriends. It especially had me worried that she wasn't forever cursing André, either.

Then came the holidays. This time I was the only one accompanying her to the Dragomir home. That was across the country in Salem, Oregon. I expected Lissa and Rose to do nearly nothing but shop and gossip, go to the movies and have a sleepover party that ran for twelve nights. Oh, how wrong I was.

Well, how _mostly_ wrong I was. The first three nights were the ones where the typical happened. Then they decided to join the party André was hosting the next night. Midnight came and went, and so did one am. But at two am, while I was stuck in a nearby lounge chair pretending to read and guarding, someone decided to it would be a brilliant idea to bring out the games. And not the _Headbandz_ or _Snakes and Ladders_ games. One of the boys decided it would be fun to play _Spin The Bottle_. I was reminded of Rose's innocence when she appeared lost. But then her expression changed once the game was explained. By this point, Lissa had gone to bed and left Rose here. Lissa's face seemed innocent enough, but something in her tired, green eyes contradicted her expression. She had to be up to something. _Rose was a bad influence,_ I decided. But when she spun the bottle and she kissed André it became apparent Lissa was just as much of a bad influence. Because the kiss between the exes was far too steamy. So steamy in fact that wolf whistles resounded and my veins burned with betrayal. _Just when I was convinced she was going to be keeping him in her past!_ I would not comment. It was just a game. That's all. It was just a game and the two were showing off in front of their mutual friends. Nothing more. There was no way the seventeen year old Junior and future Dragomir Prince was kissing **_my_** thirteen year old charge like that because he wanted to get back together with her. There was no way Rose would go running back to her best friend's player of an older brother. There was no way they'd... _was there?_

There was apparently and Rhea and Eric were only too happy to have them back together. So, Rose and Lissa were invited to all the parties André's friends threw over the next seven days. I said nothing about it, much as I would like to, and let it go, suspecting it would end again once they were back at the Academy. It kept me in Roza's good books and she still smiled and laughed and joked about with me when we trained. _Yeah, things wouldn't last long once they were back on Academy land._


	13. 2nd Year Holidays Dramas

RPOV  
Two weeks before school finished for semester 1 André and I ended it again. This time on much better terms. It still earned rumours, though. Everything started gossip at this Academy.

"Looks like they're going to be a permanent on again, off again pair. I almost feel sorry for whoever will be his future wife," Carter Badica commented as I exited the senior commons that lunch. "She's quite the hot blood whore in the making."  
"Hey! _SHE_ is right here," I exclaimed at tapped him on the shoulder. "And _she_ happens to have contacts and ways to turn you into a girl."  
He jumped. His friends and I laughed. He scowled and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Oh. Going to be a baby and go crying to Daddy?"  
"No need," I retorted haughtily, making sure to copy his stance. "As I said, Master Deaf-ica, I have my ways in which I can turn you into a girl. Then we'll see who'll go crying to Daddy because they can't continue their stupid bloodline." With one sharp motion, I bitch-slapped him, turned on my heel, and marched out of the Senior cafeteria.

"That's it, Dimi! I'm done with boys!" I slammed shut the door to the Junior gym. "I've had enough of them. Just, get me doing something! Anything!" I dropped my bag in the supply room and started stretching.  
I swear I saw Dimi's eyes sparkle with relief... and maybe mischief, perhaps even success and possession.

Why the _hell_ would he feel _possessive_ of me? I mean, I know he said he loved me and was susceptible to jealousy, but that didn't mean he was... _into_ me. Let alone enough to feel possessive.

He still wouldn't touch me other than what was needed for training. It made my crush on him that much more infuriating. And the look he'd just given me as I stormed into training... It was so much emotion being displayed, but then I couldn't understand any part of it. I couldn't for the life of me, figure out why Dimi had looked at me like that. It only served to make me yearn for him more. I needed to understand that look, I needed to peel away the layers that hid the reason for it.

I _needed_ to see it again. And again. And again. But the closest thing I got before and after each training was a proud smile and nod. I knew he was private, but now he didn't even seem to want to speak around me unless it was business. It was _infuriating_.

Soon enough, Christmas came. Dad only had Dimitri fly back to Turkey with me. I soon discovered why. Dad had moved us yet again. This time into a four bedroom suburban home. It was warm and welcoming. And small. Four beds, two baths. A standard kitchen. Double garage. And a tiny backyard. Admittedly, it was decked out in Christmas lights.

"Who put the mistletoe up?" I squeaked on Christmas Morning when Dimitri and I bumped into each other while crossing paths into or out of the kitchen.  
"Me," declared Dad, then he laughed awkwardly, "Now, come on. Just get it over with and kiss already."  
Dimi sent Dad an uncertain and disbelieving look. Then a questioning one. "Do it, Belikov. Or I'll fire you."  
"Only I can fire him, Dad. And that's _never_ happen—" I was so busy back-chatting that I didn't see Dimitri lowering his lips to mine or feel him picking me up.

Sparks set my skin alight. And what his lips were doing to mine. My legs wound around his waist and my hands braided into his hair. And tugged, begging for more. _Why did it suddenly feel like I could breathe?_ Why did it feel like I was still drowning until my tongue licked his lips and found its way into a battle with his. Fireworks exploded around and between us. _Oh. My. God!_ ** _This_** , was the _definition_ of _perfect_ bliss. This was the reason I never wanted to go near another male again. This was the moment I swore off all boys... except for him. I didn't care if he never wanted to kiss me ever again after this. I didn't care if he claimed he didn't feel the electricity between us. What I cared about, was that my heart remained with him now and that he knew how much responsibility that meant for him.

"You can let go of her now," Dad said pointedly. Talk about ruining a moment. "I didn't give you permission to touch her, Belikov."  
"Dad," I warned while slowly sliding off Dimitri. "He's _my_ Dimi. Leave him alone!"  
"You're _thirteen_ , Rosemarie! You can't know for yourself if you really wanted to kiss him, let alone like _that_!" Dad's brown eyes glowed with a dangerous fire.  
"You know _what_ , **_Dad_** ," I spat, "I _am_ old enough to know what I want, and right now I want you to leave me alone so I can talk to Dimi. I want to go _home_!" I tugged Dimitri into the room we shared and slammed the door before throwing myself into his arms and crying into his chest. "You just gave me the bestest ever Christmas present, and _he_ had to ruin it! I wanna go home, Dimi. I wanna go back to St Vlad's. Just you and me, on a plane, back to where my _real_ family is." Back to the Dragomirs. Eric and Rhea were on Campus this Christmas break. Back to where we could just be us without eagle-eyes judging us. Just hawk-eyed Kirova... not that she paid us much attention anyway.  
"Are you sure, Roza?" he asked gently while keeping me protectively locked in his arms.  
I nodded. "200 percent."  
"Okay."

"Rose, don't go," pleaded Dad, "you just came home."  
"This isn't my home! My home is where my friends are, where my support is. My home is back in America. Whether you like it or not, I'm going back with Dimitri. Right now. And nothing you can say or do will stop me!" Dimi gently wrapped an arm around the front of my waist and pulled me away from Dad before I could hurt a Moroi and guided me out the door.

It wasn't until I was shoved behind Dimitri that I realised a Strigoi was onto us in the carpark of the airport in Billings. I used all the training I could to help, but Dimi was having none of it. I wasn't much use without a stake anyway.  
"Roza!" exclaimed a relieved Dimitri once we were certain the area was clear. "Oh Roza!" I saw and heard anguish coming of him like waves and felt it too when he pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. "Never do that again, Roza. Never try and help me save you. I couldn't bare the thought I let you put yourself in danger, especially if you got hurt! I need you, Roza. I need you to stay alive, I need you to be happy. I need you to get me up in the mornings."  
"I need you too, Dimi. You have no clue how much I need you. I need you to trust me, trust that I can look after myself and that I can protect you. I need you to believe that I will protect you at all costs, Dimi." I stared into his eyes for a long and meaningful moment. We said nothing more after he pecked my forehead and started clean-up with the Alchemists.

I found Dimitri on New Years Eve. He'd just been marked again and I knew it would take its toll once more. My heart was his, so I had to show him I cared. Even though I knew, now we were back on campus, I should stay well away from him, I just couldn't. He was still _my_ guardian, so in a way I could find him whenever I wanted, but he was also my mentor and that meant I should avoid him. But he was my Dimi and I was the only piece of home he had out here. He had contacts and colleagues and the odd almost-friend or two, but I was still closest to him, the one who understood how he felt right now.

"Rose? Shouldn't you be with Lissa or something?" The shock and surprise—and delight—was clear as day in his eyes, despite his words. I shook my head at him while striding into the store room, making sure he was following and then tugged him down onto one of the chairs. I pulled the other across and sat in front of him. I narrowed my eyes before smiling.  
"Now, talk to me. Dimi. I don't care what about. Just talk. Say something. Anything."  
He let out an attractive noise, that I think was a very quiet, hesitant chuckle. He smiled at me, truly smiled. My heart skipped a beat. It terrified me. What he was doing to me without trying, was terrifying me. "Anything, huh?"  
I nodded. "Of course, Dimi. Surely we've been through too much for me not to be open to all your thoughts?"  
Dimitri sighed and leaned his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. "You're still so innocent, Roza, and I won't be the one to destroy that."  
"Talk to me, Dimitri, or I swear to god..."  
"Stubborn child," he chastised lightly. Though my heart didn't take it lightly at all. I felt like he'd simultaneously stabbed me and run me over with a road train. _There it was_. The one thing I'd dreaded since Dad had interrupted our kiss. The cold, harsh truth. _He only saw me as a sister._  
I stood to leave, desperately needing to escape. "You know, I just remembered, Lissa wanted me to come over early because An—"  
"You suck at lying," Dimitri whispered while jerking me onto his lap. Before I knew it, he was kissing me like he had under the mistletoe, as though he knew why I'd lied, what he'd said wrong. I couldn't help myself, I kissed him back just as fervently. When we finally stopped to breathe, reality also caught up with us. I think we both felt a little unnerved by that.  
"You suck at keeping a level head." I sighed. "I should go..."  
Dimi's eyes implored me to stay. "I'm sorry, Rose..."  
I shook my head. "Call it New Years Eve midnight mistimed."

DPOV  
"Help me, Ivan!" I exclaimed down the phone line in Russian. The dorms were as clear as they were gonna get and I was locked in mine.  
My ass of a friend simply laughed in a knowing manner. "You kissed her, didn't you? As in, you _properly_ kissed her? Tongue and all!"  
"It's not a laughing matter, Ivan! I'm so f****** screwed! I've ruined everything between us. Why can't I just see her as she is?" I groaned.  
"You _do_ see her as she is, man. You need to make peace with that. I bet, she's overjoyed right now and on cloud nine. She's been waiting a while for that."  
"It doesn't matter if she's been waiting for it."

There was no way in hell that at thirteen she could completely know what she was doing by letting me kiss her. I shouldn't even _want_ to kiss her that way. Like, _ever_. Yet, ever since Ivan had asked me who I saw me seeing in lingerie for me for the rest of her life and realising it was Rose, I couldn't damn-well stop visualising an older her in that stuff. And it was messing with the image of her innocent thirteen year old reality. I couldn't do this. It wasn't fair on her. It was why I'd kept my distance, why my boundaries were so certain and secure. But a stupid sprig of mistletoe had been my undoing. I had to guard her and I had to train her. I couldn't allow her to get to me. _For her sake_ , I couldn't let her tear my guard to shreds. I couldn't impact her young, vulnerable teenage years by starting something she couldn't comprehend the enormity of. I just couldn't. I couldn't allow my head to be led by my heart. I just... _couldn't_.

 _If it was the right thing and the best for her, then_ ** _why was I feeling as though my soul was being torn_** ** _in half?_**


	14. Threats and… Unleashed Love?

RPOV

School restarted soon enough. And so did André chasing after me. But... I couldn't, not this time. I knew I should 'go out' with him again, just to cover my feelings for Dimitri. But I just didn't believe I had it in me to fool André— and maybe even an avoiding-me-again Dimi— into believing it was genuine. I mean, I still liked André. Just, now, it was more like he was a big brother.

"André, I refuse to let you turn me into something I'm not." I meaningfully gazed into his confused eyes. "I refuse to be your rebound girl. Got it."

"You _aren't_ a rebound, Rosie," he argued with unshed tears glistening in his eyes. I saw his honesty, but I also saw his love for me was familial, even if he didn't recognise it.

"You're right. I'm not your rebound girl. I'm your little sister and it's wrong for you to want to go out with me."

Oh, the irony. Because of his age and status it was wrong for Dimitri to want to go out with me— even I realised how illegal it was— but that didn't stop him from kissing me as powerfully and meaningfully as he had on Christmas Morning and New Year's Eve. It did, however, make him have mood swings; one minute he'd embrace his more mature feelings for me, the next for days on end he'd fight them. It annoyed the shite out of me. But, unfortunately, I understood all too well how serious the consequences could be: for him and me.

Reluctantly, André stopped pestering me. But I always saw this look in his eyes, this look of pain and loss. He hadn't come to terms with his love for me only being familial. I somehow knew it would take a while for him to accept that fact. Until then, I was resolved to avoid him. _Now I was behaving like Dimitri. Ew!_ I didn't like that thought. It tasted bad and made me want to simultaneously scream and gag.

Now, as for Dimitri, he was still trying to avoid me. Apparently, he either regretted kissing me or he was trying to avoid temptation. Because, sometimes— when I was certain he thought I _didn't_ notice— he looked at me longingly and desperately, as if he felt as though I was a part of his soul he had to cut himself off from. At other times, I noticed he'd wear an admiring smile. He never did any of this during trainings, but before and after he'd let his gaze linger and his guard slip, just a little, but it was more then enough to make my heart do insane things and make my mind go crazy and my breathing hitch and falter and be problematic. _Oh, I was in over my head with him._ He was my guardian and my mentor— my _much older_ guardian and mentor— but I just couldn't shake this connection we had, I could not reverse the addiction I had to him. _And it drove me_ _ **mad**_ _!_ I was thirteen, but god-damn-it this crush I had on him— which I refused to accept as anything more— had me feeling things for that young man I absolutely _shouldn't_ know how to feel when I'd barely started my teenage years. I shouldn't be able to feel a spark between us every time we touched. I shouldn't be able to imagine life without him being agony. I shouldn't be able to know things about him he didn't want to know. But I _did_. And it _scared_ me. It scared me so much.

Then came my fourteenth birthday. Lissa and her family spoiled me. André even gave me an expensive dress. Ivan sent me a grand in American cash and three five hundred dollar gift cards. I really didn't need them but I loved him for his generosity. Dimitri gave me a golden locket which opened to reveal a picture of us Dad had snapped on the sly; the picture he'd taken the first time Dimitri had read one of his Westerns to me in his bed in the old mansion. The other side was blank and I looked at him questioningly. He chuckled and shook his head. "You'll have to wait until that other picture exists."

I groaned at his mysterious response. If only I had it in me to slap him in annoyance.

When Spring break came around, I refused to return to Turkey. I refused to visit my parents. I simply _couldn't_ deal with them right now. Instead, I stayed on campus. Lissa's parents had insisted I come and stay with them. But I wanted time where I didn't run the risk of seeing André. Actually, I wanted time alone, period... well alone with Dimitri, even just innocently.

"Come on, Rose," Dimitri tugged me from my room. "You're getting out of here for a bit." There wasn't a note in his voice that could leave room for this being anything other than serious. I followed silently, though I hated not knowing what was going on.

He led me through campus to the garages and unlocked an Academy owned Honda Pilot. It was then I noticed he had two bags and he threw them in the back, haphazardly. Scared—very scared—I hopped in shotgun and let Dimitri speed to the front gate then out onto a main road.

"What the hell is going on, Dimitri!" I demanded once we were travelling at a steady speed... On an interstate. That was what worried me most. He was taking me out of the state. Something was wrong. I could feel the stress radiating off Dimitri.

"We have to get you out of here," he muttered, more to himself than answering my question.

"I gathered that! But, _**WHY**_?" I despised not knowing what was happening. Especially considering how tightly Dimitri was gripping the steering wheel and always checking the rearview mirror.

"The same reason as every other time you've been put into hiding." Dimitri made a sharp turn left, off the interstate, and started weaving through suburban streets. Only to return to the interstate going back the way we came.

I tried to ignore what he'd said before, about going into hiding, let alone what that meant. But I couldn't stop my mind from spinning. Was the threat actually here in The States? Or was it back in Turkey? Had someone threatened to get to me and hurt me in order to blackmail Dad? Had someone threatened to kidnap me again? I had no idea. My life had been so easy since Dimitri had come into it... well, it was just as dramatic, but boy and Strigoi problems were nothing in comparison to Dad's enemies.

The look in Dimitri's eyes as he transitioned from one interstate to the one that headed in a perpendicular direction told me all I needed to know. He would stop at _nothing_ to keep me safe. He would do _absolutely anything_ to keep me safe and alive. _No. Matter. What_. That was when I truly realised the extent of his feelings for me. He had fallen. Head over heels. _In love._ With. Me. He was hopelessly. In. Love. With. _Me_. Rosemarie. Mazur. That was all I needed to see to put my protection in his very capable hands. If he refused to let me fight, I wouldn't fight. If he hid me in the middle of nowhere, I wouldn't argue.

Using aliases Dad had given us a while back, Dimitri checked us into a motel in a town I was sure had a name little more inventive than _Town_. At least the rooms were clean. But there was only one bed. I became nervous at that. We hadn't shared a bed since our feelings had started going every which-way.

"I'll take the couch," informed that honey accent I couldn't get enough of.

I shook my head. "No way in hell, Dimi. There's no way I'm letting you hurt yourself by sleeping on the couch for even half a minute."

A pained look marred his handsome face. I think I knew why he hesitated. He was scared, scared he wouldn't control himself.

"I _know_ , Dimitri," I whispered as I crossed the tiny room in four strides. I put my hands on his chest. I was now nearly only a foot shorter than him. "I _know_ how you feel about me– how you _**truly**_ feel about me. I've known you too long not to." It was going on two years since I'd first laid eyes on him. And in that first glance I knew, a part of me knew, "I've always been meant as a part of you and you've always been meant as a part of me." I looked meaningfully into his eyes as I took his hands in mine and brought them up to rest over my heart. "This is the pressure point of mine most sensitive to you. Falling in love with you was never an option, Dimitri Belikov. From the second I laid eyes on you, I knew— I just _knew_ — I'd found the only guardian I'd ever need. I knew you'd be the one to protect me no matter what."

Dimitri's eyes shimmered with tears and his left arm wrapped around my waist and pulled me toward him—like there was even any space between us to begin with— and his right hand tipped my chin up. I felt and tasted his warm, unsteady breath when he brought his forehead to rest on mine, with our noses touching and our lips almost as close. "This is _so wrong_ , Roza, so, so wrong, but it feels so _right_." His lips lingered on mine, barely a kiss, but the spark was still there, that sense of being something more when we touched like this. "Why? Roza, why? Why must everything feel right with you even when it's wrong?"

I laughed against his lips and used his waistband to tug him closer to me. "Because you had no say in falling in love with me, either, Dimi—" His lips attacked mine in a fiery, passionate kiss, cutting me off and leaving me breathless.

"Oh Roza, there's nothing I wouldn't do to keep you safe and alive... because you're right. I _have_ fallen in love with you. Against all logic and defying all my morals, my heart became yours the millisecond I spotted you asleep on Abe's shoulder. You've always been the innocent and pure angel I need to protect, the angel I need keep safe or I'll be damned." The honesty and love radiating from him was so pure and raw... he was leaving himself vulnerable to me.

I brought my lips up to his. I couldn't get enough. I'd never get enough. I was addicted and there was no rehabilitation option for me. By the way he was kissing me back I could tell he was just as addicted.

"I guess I should tell you what's going on," Dimitri sighed when we eventually stopped kissing. Now under the covers of the bed.

"Hmm?" I asked and snuggled into him. Nothing could possibly be wrong with him here to love and protect me.

He held me as if scared I'd disappear in the blink of an eye. "The reason we're here in the first place," he murmured into my hair.

"What about it?" My mind was struggling to come out of the fog our kissing had caused.

"Roza... Oh my Roza," Dimitri clung to me and sounded on the verge of tears. "One of Abe's enemies," he took a steadying breath, "one of his enemies has threatened to track you down and won't stop until..." Now Dimitri really choked on a sob and hot, scared, angry tears of anguish slid onto my shoulder. "Until he kills you. There's nothing we can do but hide you until he dies first."

Until Dad finds a way to have him killed first, you mean. I didn't dare say it, but I could tell he knew I would be correcting him.

I looked deep into his warm, chocolate brown eyes. "Then keep kissing me, you jerk."

"I'm not a jerk, Roza," he muttered. Despite his words his lips met mine again. The fire between us burned brighter then ever, the kiss the hottest, neediest, most desperate one yet.

"Dimi...!" I moaned. I _needed_ him to kiss me, all over me. I needed him to claim every bit of my skin as his by kissing it possessively. I needed his tender yet lethal hands to end the existence of the clothes I wore and my control. The things he was already doing to me were unbelievable but were also leaving me longing for more.

"Roza..." he groaned, desperately trying to resist me. I squirmed under him pointedly. I could feel how much he wanted me, how much he needed me. Let me say this: it was _**A LOT!**_

"Don't hide from me, Comrade." I don't know where the new nickname came from, but I knew what it spelled: A new era, one where we were nothing less than equals.

I studied him studying me closely. His eyes shone with a new fire, a new adoration for me. He'd just fallen for me all over again as he realised what I was doing with the new nickname. I wasn't a child... well, in many ways I _was_ , but not anymore when it came to matters of knowing what my heart and body wanted. A new affectionate smile graced his plump— _swollen_ — addictive lips. My soul was _screaming_ at those lips to reconnect with my body, to reopen the door where our souls met and ripped down the wall between us. My body was yelling at his to just damn-well do the same, to obliterate the barriers between us.

"I... can't... Roza..." he looked anguished now. "I feel like I'm taking advantage of you in this situation."

I stared at him pointedly. "I don't care about the world out there— that world has nothing to do with this one. I care about you! I _know_ how much you want me, I _know_ how much you love me. I _know_ I want you to give in because I _need_ to show you how much of an integral part of me you've become!"

I needed to show him that I would take care of him as much as he would take care of me. And really? I _didn't_ care that I had someone desperate to kill me coming after me. That wasn't abnormal for me with the business my Dad runs. What I cared about was cherishing every moment with Dimitri I got. This new direct threat on my life simply reminded me how lucky I'd been and how vain I'd been these past nearly two years. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to make love to Dimitri. I knew, I just knew, there'd never be a way for me to regret this.

His resolve faltered once more as indecision flickered in his eyes. I knew then what would crumble that resolve.

"I won't let laws stop me from loving you when I've grown-up as a chess piece and target, when my life has already been dictated and controlled so much." I reached down and gripped his happy manhood. Even through his undies and jeans I could feel the heat flowing between us at the point of contact.

"Roza, _my_ Roza," he whispered possessively while wearing this worshiping look. "Oh, my Roza..." His lips went straight for my neck and he nibbled. " _ **MY**_ Roza," he growled, once more with that possessive tone thickening his already thickened and such-a-turn-on accent. I never thought he'd be a possessive one, but with me, oh god, he was. He was protective and loving and quite frequently jealous when it came to me, but he also had this possessive edge that made me go _crazy_. I never wanted him to control me or own me, but his possessiveness of me right now was making me go _mad_ with desire because I'd never known anyone to want me so much, I'd never known anyone who believed only they could make me happy and keep me safe as passionately as Dimitri did in this moment.


	15. Still Not Safe

RPOV

I'd known for a bit that I wanted to lose my virginity to Dimitri. I just hadn't ever seen it realistically happening. At least until I was graduated. And I had certainly never seen me losing it while in hiding, fearing for my life, in some dingy, tiny, old, lucky-to-be-one-star motel. Or at fourteen. But here we were. I was most definitely only fourteen. And he was nearly twenty. We were fearing for my life and in hiding. And the first thing we can think of doing is pushing our limits and crushing our control... in bed... with each other... now both of us with nearly no clothes on— most of which were quite literally _shredded_ and lying on the floor beside the bed and all over the tiny room.

Then it happened. Just as precise as any training, just as fierce, and just as scary, uncharted territory, just as new, but just as familiar. How could one man be so perfect and tender and gentle while also being so fierce and animalistic and raw? How could he bring out my strongest emotions while also bringing out my base instincts? He drove me mad, but I loved him. I loved him and it drove me mad. He was a god in battle and a god in the bedroom. There was very little separating the two. And with us, I doubted the two were even meant to be separated. Ever.

Or, at least, that's how I believed it would go. Dimitri's control was stronger than I ever gave him credit for. Damn it. It just _had_ to be him to create my first sex dream!

"I love you, Dimitri. I'll do whatever it takes to protect you."

He looked at me as if he'd just discovered his reason for living. "Then promise me this: let me protect you, no trying to save yourself. Okay?"

I couldn't believe what he was asking of me. "I won't let you die for me, Comrade."

Dimitri regarded me with utter seriousness. "I won't live without you, Rose."

I bit my lip and stared at him through my lashes. "Then I think we have a problem, Comrade..."

"One you don't want to know how I want to solve," he growled before kissing me desperately.

I got a surprise when I woke up to find Dimitri and I still shirtless in bed. And that he was studying me, delicately tracing the lines of my body with his eyes and a gentle, relaxed smile on his face. One arm was holding my waist protectively. I smiled in return.

"Hey," I whispered, scared to break this moment… and terrified to truly accept that my dream had only been a dream… Then again, I _was_ only _**fourteen**_. _What else could I expect?_ Dimitri definitely had more control than even he believed— he had been the one to force us to cool off and get some legitimate, innocent shut-eye after he couldn't bring himself to even play with the clasp of my bra, no matter how much I tried reassuring him I was fine with it because it was him. He hadn't been fine with it and he didn't want me waking up and regretting letting him even remove my shirt because I'd let teenage hormones and the emotionally turbulent day mess-up my sense of judgement.

"Morning, Roza." That heart-stealing smile remained. He hesitated before tentatively asking, "You feeling okay?"

I grinned and nodded. "I feel amazing."

I was sore. Of course I was sore. But in its way, it only added to the high. The high my dream had created and the soreness came from my subconscious continuation of last night's activities, not what actually felt unusual because Dimitri had gotten a little possessive.

Dimitri looked at me questioningly.

I groaned. "Okay, okay. I'm sore, but isn't that to be expected after giving me a love bite?"

He simply brought his lips to mine in a chaste kiss while laughing against them. "Yes, Still Miss Innocent." Dimitri sent me a loving, longing, lingering gaze while gently tracing a line down my cheek and jaw with the back of his hand. "I love you, Roza."

I smiled and my heart skipped a few beats. "I love you, Comrade."

His smile widened at the sound of the new nickname. "I sort of hate you for that, Rose. What kind of nickname is _Comrade_ for a bodyguard called _Dimitri_? It sounds like something you should call a dog."

I gasped at him in mock offence. "How can you hate me for that? And it fits you perfectly... It's a sexy nickname for a sexy beast. Honestly, why would I call you something I'd call a dog? I'd call a dog something I'd call you!"

That morning and day was the only good one for the next couple of dozen. Dimitri was super-alert every time we stepped outside the door of the motel room. He was hyper-sensitive whenever he saw someone look our way. He was hyper-tense when we stayed in the room. And me? I was hyper-bored. I might not like school, but there was only so much one could take before one started missing their friends and the work from the subjects they _actually_ liked doing, when they knew they were getting ever-closer to falling too far behind. I was lucky Dimitri even let me do a light workout with him everyday... especially considering... well... yeah. _That_.

We didn't regret getting a little carried away, but we certainly didn't talk of it either. I saw the determination to protect me in his eyes, and I saw— even when he didn't want me to— the love for me it stemmed from. I saw the longing in his eyes when he believed I wasn't looking, believed I wasn't focused on him. But, and I knew this even more so from the first night, it was nearly impossible for me not to focus on him— he was willing to DIE for ME! I couldn't stand the thought I may one day live because he died so I could live. But what was living when you didn't have a reason? I knew Lissa would be a major, _major_ component of my life— likely also my charge, since she was my best friend _and_ Eric and Rhea had already requested me to guard her— but she in no way compared to Dimitri. If he died for me, I would be consumed with guilt and ripped apart with grief. I couldn't let him die for me! Ever!

Dimitri jumped when his cell rang. After a very hushed and panicked conversation, he rushed around, packing up the minimal stuff we'd brought. Dimitri looked at me as if this could be the last time he ever saw me. Before I could conceive the notion, his lips slammed into mine. I could feel all his love and desperation and desire flooding into me from this very meaningful kiss. He pulled back and before I had time to breathe, let alone think, he took my hand in one of his, our two small bags in the other and pulled me out of the room and motel, into the woods.

"Please, Roza, stay here. I should be back in ten minutes, tops." He pecked my lips then ran off, leaving me in the mid-morning sun in backwoods-nowhere woodland. I hated the 'should' he'd said. It unnerved me that he wasn't sure he'd return to me. But he had to! He _**HAD**_ to return to me. I _needed_ him to return to me, because it was exactly in situations just like these that the target was more likely to be found. I needed him by my side. I always had and I always would.

"You want her?" growled a voice I hadn't heard so serious since we'd gotten a little carried away with our heated kissing. "You come through me." Protective. Possessive. Fierce. Loving. _**Lethal**_.

The four would-be kidnappers got a shock and paused at the ferocity in Dimitri's voice as he approached from not even a dozen feet away. The dangerous, deadly glint in his eyes and the power in his stride said something. His coat billowing out around him cemented the image and message. He was death in a duster, a cowboy ready to die and kill for his cowgirl, and anyone who wasn't scared of him was an idiot, because there wasn't a thing he wouldn't do to hurt the ones who dared even think about joking about bringing harm to me. Now so wasn't the time for his hotness to threaten to overtake me. Their distraction caused them to lose their weak advantage and their unconscious selves were tied to a tree and gagged.

After that near-miss, Dimitri took their van and drove us out of the state as quickly but as subtly as possible. Once we'd jumped the state line, the first thing Dimitri had on the agenda was switching cars. I would have helped, but he wouldn't let me and even if he had let me I probably wouldn't have been taken seriously... well, maybe an old creep would have paid attention if I flaunted what I had... but one look from Dimitri told me I was not starting down that path in the human world, not at any point in his lifetime. He'd actually looked ready to have a heart attack.

We, more or less, simply drove through the state, southwards. Then we drove through that state westwards. We changed cars just before hopping the boarder. Then again after having just barely entered the next state. If we had a tail, we'd clearly lost and confused them. Still, it didn't stop Dimitri from hopping across as many state boarders as possible in one day.

When we chose to settle for the night, Dimitri checked us in at a fancy hotel using the aliases Dad had given us that allowed us to not seem out of place in places such as these. The hotel was attached to the city's main casino, after all. At least this fancy room had cable. Thank god. And trustworthy, quality food.

I collapsed on the window lounge of our 26th floor room. But Dimitri was still in hyper-sensitive mode and he closed the curtains. Well, there wasn't much daylight left anyway... I wasn't missing much, all considered.

Dimitri pushed my legs off before sitting next to me and pulling me into his arms. For the next however many minutes or hours we just sat there and clung to each other, not daring to believe we'd truly escaped the first attempt on my life from this enemy of Dad's. We'd just tried the theory that if there was fewer people around to notice you then it's less likely you'll be recognised. Now we were trying the exact opposite. It was time to see how long we got to stay here for before someone tried to get to me again.

"Morning, baby girl," whispered that honey accent that belonged to the only man I would ever love.

A smiled danced across my lips. Nothing could be wrong if I was waking up to him saying that, if I was waking up to him, period.

"Morning, Comrade."

Dimitri chuckled sexily before suggesting having a shower and getting breakfast.


	16. The last resort

**Hidesign I just want to thank you for your comment on chapter 13— 2nd Year Holidays Dramas— as it actually gave me the spark I needed to fix chapters 15 onwards to something I was more comfortable with and I'd love for you to give these chapters a chance and review again; the feedback is really appreciated and I do seriously take all feedback into account and consideration. Best, Jess.**

DPOV

Right now it felt like one near miss after another with the frequency of attempts to kidnap— or even unhesitatingly kill— _MY_ Roza. I refused to let anyone take her life from her, and no way in hell was I going to allow anyone to take her from me. She was mine to protect and love and I would be _damned_ if I didn't do my best to keep her safe and happy.

There was only one place left where I hoped this enemy and his cronies wouldn't look for her. But I didn't have a clue how to get there unnoticed.

"I need to get her a pass home," I informed Abe when he rang to check on her. Again.

"Belikov," he warned in a dangerously calm voice. "I swear, if you've—"

"Just help me keep her safe," I snapped. " _That_ is irrelevant." I'd already had the over-protective father speech, and right now, it _really_ _didn't_ matter. I wasn't going to get so close to losing my control with her again until she was _at least_ sixteen. I would make sure she lived long enough so she was at least at the age of consent in some American states and across some countries. This was my last resort, and I was going to do whatever it took to keep her safe and hidden, keep her out of the way of prying eyes. With or without his help or approval.

My outburst was met with silence. Then just as I thought he'd hung up, he sighed. "Fine. I'll help you, but only because she's my baby and you're her only protector left."

I should have thanked him, but I really didn't care at this point. I was too anxious to get her into safety.

"What are we doing at the airport, Dimitri?" whispered Rose she noticed where I was driving us.

I took her hand in mine. "Whatever it takes to make you safe. Trust me, Roza, _please_."

She gave my hand a squeeze before kissing the back of it. "With my life. I love you, Dimitri, of course I trust you with my life."

I brought her hand up to my own lips and placed a lingering kiss on the back of it. "I love you more than you could ever comprehend, Roza."

To my surprise, Rose said nothing when she learned I was taking her to Russia. I would have thought she'd have sworn me out for taking her closer to where the original threat was or to 'an arctic wasteland'. But she didn't. She bit her lip and her eyes hardened in steely resolve. From that expression I knew she fully comprehended that she couldn't utter a syllable, even under her breath, because someone, who knew someone, who knew someone, who knew someone who knew the enemy may overhear. She had grown up with these sort of threats. I had to remind myself constantly that there was a reason other than genetics why she was so, so mentally mature beyond her years.

Without so much as someone glancing at us for too long or looking at us the wrong way, we made it to Russia. That it had been such a smooth trip was enough to put me on edge for the train trip to Omsk then the drive to my home. Well... Rose was my home now, but my childhood and family home.

Olena'sPOV

The front door unlocked and opened itself. _Who the hell was it_! It couldn't be him, it couldn't be Randal— Dimka had made sure the locks had been changed and I knew the drunken fool was never sober or smart enough to have a key forged, I guess that was why my only son had made sure the lock had been changed in the first place. So _who in the world was letting themselves in?_

"Comrade..." a whole bunch of Turkish— I'm _reasonably sure_ it was Turkish— fell in a whispered rush from a young girl's mouth with an accent somewhere between Turkish and American.

"Roza, I'm sure it'll be fine, Mom will understand," reassured a voice I knew in my very essence to be my son's. _Why would Dimka sneak home in the middle of the night with a young girl?_ He was supposed to be in America, guarding his charge at an Academy last I heard.

The door shut at the same time I finished cleaning the dishes from dinner.

The two sets of footfalls made their way into the house, towards the kitchen.

"Hi Dimka," I said before turning around.

"Uh... hi Mom," he greeted while completely turning awkward.

The young girl by his side was clearly a beauty. A dhampir in her early teens who had a light tan, dark curls and dark eyes, as well as mature features for her age.

"Thanks for the notification." I narrowed my eyes at him then smiled at the clearly fighting her discomfort teen. "I'm Olena, and you are?"

She smiled. "Rose, Dimitri's charge." I took a second look between her and my son. _Hmmm_. I somehow doubted they were purely professional with their proximity. Besides, there was just this _chemistry_ burning between them.

"Well, Rose, welcome to Baia. Feel free to make yourself at home. Dimka, take her upstairs and let her go to sleep. I need to speak with you."

Dimka nodded. He led Rose up to the only room available.

It wasn't long before he returned while she ran a shower.

"You wished to talk to me," he prompted while sitting opposite me in the small lounge room.

"Yes." I met his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me you were bringing your charge home?"

An agonised look played in his eyes. "I couldn't let you know I was planning to bring her here. No one could know."

I narrowed my eyes. "Elaborate."

"She's in hiding," he reluctantly admitted. "She's being hunted and we've exhausted every possible place in The States, and Turkey is completely out of the question."

My eyebrow lifted. "Turkey? And what do you mean by _hunted_?"

His personal attachment to her shone undeniably when he couldn't hide his tornado of emotions. "She's Turkish; she's Zmey Junior."

"Is she _just_ your charge?"

He started to nod his head.

" _Don't lie to me_ _ **, Dimitri Belikov**_."

"Would you think less of me if I told you she's my world?" He looked almost sheepish, and definitely scared.

I shook my head. "No. You can't help who you love. But I have to worry how much you've done with her, Dimka. She's barely a teenager and you're about to turn twenty."

"Then you should be very worried about me, Mom." His expression wasn't one of guilt, nor was it one of pride, but rather, it was once of acceptance and love. "You should be very worried because I've done rather a bit with her— without regret."

"Dimitri! How could you be so sure she was completely sure she wanted?"

"She's been through too much to not know what she wants, to not know how to get what she wants. And she already had me wrapped around her little finger." He ran a hand through his shoulder-length hair. "I would never force her into anything, including resisting her love for me. Though it's not like we've done everything— I'm not _that_ reckless."

"I should hope not. Be careful, Dimka. She's still young, still a _child_ ; anything could change."

"I'm aware," he snapped, his stress and exhaustion were leaking through his façade of control. "She could die at any time and I won't be able to live without her." He stood and practically ran to his room. I was rather surprised he didn't slam his door after him.


	17. Never fully safe Part 1

RPOV  
I was sixteen by the time I was safe enough to return to America.  
Dimitri's family had taken me in and protected me. Much like their friends- Mark and Oksana. Oksana wielded a very rare magical element called spirit and Mark was her bound husband and unofficial guardian. She could do a number of things, but healing was what she did best. Which came in very useful four months ago.

My guardian and barely-turned-lover-on-my-sixteenth-birthday had staked three of five Strigoi who had attacked us on the unprotected route to the nearest bigger town when we went to get some supplies unavailable in Baia. But the fourth Strigoi had somehow taken Dimitri by surprise and turned him before either of us knew what was really happening. I had managed to kill that one and the last.  
After seeing me so distraught, Oksana had gone to great lengths and pains and looked into a fairy-tale of being able to restore Strigoi to their original state. By the time she had learned everything she possibl could, Dimitri had started mailing me letters about wanting me to join him. The only way I was joining him was in the afterlife after I'd died trying to free his soul.

My attempts to find him to kill him hadn't been without Mark and Oksana as backup as well as a number of un-promised Strigoi-hunting dhampirs. They hadn't been futile, either. One night, he had found me- I _had_ been asking after him, after all- and Oksana had restored him before I could fathom what was going on. It hadn't been easy, but he slowly forgave himself for having to kill to survive for nearly a month- taking two months to accomplish the arduous and emotionally overwhelming task while also returning to St Vladimir's and going on Easter break with the Dragomirs- and let himself fall in love with me all over again. And with that, came a hard-come-by second time together. And let me tell you, we made the most of the physical embracing of our love, that's for sure.

DPOV  
"She should be dead, Sir. We have to rush her into surgery."  
"She's my charge," I hissed frantically at the paramedic. Of course I goddamn knew she should be dead. Given the blood and wreckage around us, of course I knew she should be dead. I _hated_ it.  
"We'll tell you later, Sir." With that, half of my soul was driven away in a speeding ambulance.

Still, I managed to follow them to the hospital. Finally the head surgeon came and sat next to me. This was a bad omen. The grief-stricken and sympathy-filled grey eyes were an especially bad omen. I didn't know if my head or heart could feel anymore shredded. Still, nothing could prepare me for what he said next...  
"She should stabilise soon without falling into a coma- she has minimal brain swelling that appears to be reducing at an incredible rate..." The sympathy that filled his eyes now spread to and shone clearly on his face. "There was no way the baby could have survived the impact of the crash. I'm so sorry, Mr Belikov..." I'm sure he trailed off because he saw my numbing yet burning shock and grief and I have no clue what else was in the storm of emotions and incomprehensible thoughts. The one thought I knew was the one truth that I found absolutely no judgement for in the doctor's eyes or posture.  
"Sh-she was p-pregnant? How far along?" Tears were streaming down my face. How could they not be? I didn't have any energy left in me to stop them.  
"Yes, Mr Belikov. She was about eight weeks pregnant. I'm so sorry there was nothing we could do."  
 _Eight weeks._ Eight weeks ago was when we'd had the best practically-week-long make-up sex and love-making night and day. How the Dragomirs hadn't figured me and Rose out was a miracle. Unlike this current circumstance.

"She **_what!_** I swear to god, Belikov, if you-"  
" _ **Did you not hear me!**_ I said it's a miracle she's alive... And I said the doctor said she _was_ pregnant. If you remember rightly, I can't do that to her," _if we were a normal dhampir pair..._ "if I was even interested in her that way."  
"You can't lie to me, Belikov. I don't know the extent of it, but I _know_ you're fooling around with my underage daughter."  
I slammed my phone shut, ending the call so abruptly if he'd been bluffing his suspicions would have just been confirmed due to my unrestrained emotions. But I struggled to care about that or the possible outcomes when Rose's eyes fluttered open before my own.

 _Finally I get to see those brown orbs that make me melt and fall for her all over again._ My heart leapt with hope and love... then crashed with grief and torment. And guilt. So much guilt. She should have been riding with me, in the escorting SUV. It was all my fault she was in here, that she had nearly died... that our baby had died.  
"D... im... it... ri..." she croaked out painfully.  
I buried my guilt and grief and anger. I had to support her right now. She needed all the strength I could give her. So, the first thing I did was pour her a cup of water and helped her to sip it.  
"I'm here, Roza, I'm right here. I'm going absolutely nowhere."  
Her tire, traumatised brown eyes bore into mine. "You'd better not go anywhere!"  
"I don't see how I ever could, Roza."

I brought my lips to her forehead. I just needed this contact with her. _How was I meant to tell her we'd lost a baby?_ How was I even meant to start processing we'd had a baby to lode? How was I meant to grieve four our child who'd never be born? I couldn't. Not right now, at least. All I could do was be grateful and humbled that she was still alive. As long as Rose was still alive, I could survive. Surely, _surely,_ I could survive as long as my Roza was alive.

"Why does my stomach hurt? It hurts more than everything else together!"  
I took a steadying breath before pulling away to look deep into her eyes. I didn't want to have to be the one to explain this to her- I don't even know if I could! "The car wrapped around a tree... on top of breaking multiple ribs..." I couldn't do this without crying, without choking. "A branch penetrated your stomach, Roza... The doctors tried everything... but there was nothing they could do to save our baby." _And there it was, the harsh truth that, now I had said it, I felt like my soul was being ripped to shreds, the sharp points of reality scraping down body... I could feel it...  
_ "Our what! Dimitri, stop talking nonsense!" I hated seeing her so frantic and wound-up, so confused and in such immense pain.

I closed my eyes tightly and lightly laid a hand over her stomach before bringing my lips down to place a kiss there over her thin hospital gown. "I love you," I murmured over and over in all three languages we now shared. I know our baby wasn't there, but they had been. I could feel the difference now I knew what had been happening. When I finally had the guts, I tore my eyes away and looked into Rose's brown orbs. She was crying... silently sobbing , in fact.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry, Dimitri!"  
"Shush,' I whispered and brought my lips to meet hers. "You couldn't have known. And you had no control. Okay? You can't change any part of what's happened. Neither of us can. But I'll never leave your side. And you've still got Lissa, too."

 _And I hope to dear god that when they graduated, Rose was assigned as Lissa's guardian, just as the Dragomirs had always requested._


End file.
